EXHIBITION AND 
LECTHRE MEETINGS j 1951 
mther was found with I?. viUkanlis. All three species are rather fre- 
quent in Devon and Cornwall, and the distribution area of B. vilhcaulAs 
overlaps that of its presumed descendants in Britain, whilst on the 
Continent it mostly excludes them. They are not found, either B. 
rUlicuuUs or the descendants, in France or Belgium. It looks there- 
fore as if B. vilUcavUs arose and evolved in or near south-west England. 
The lower leaves of B. villicanlis resemble those of B. grains, the 
upper ones and those on the branches, those of B. hifrons. Such a 
sequence is often to be found in plants of hybrid origin. 
W. C. R. Watson. 
Forms oe SIUM LATIFOLIUM L. 
Two contrasting specimens of Sinrii latifolium from coastal dykes m 
North Lincolnshire, v.-c. 54, were shown: — 
Leaflets very broad, up to 200 mm. in width, from Theddlethorpe Road. 
Leaflets not more than 120 mm. in width, from Saltfleetby St. Peter. 
Both forms are well distributed, the form ivith narrow leaflets also 
being found inland. 
Paintings oe North Lincolnshire pl.ints by the hate Dr. J. T. 
Burgess. 
A selection of 450 j)aintings, x 4| ins., of North Lincolnshire 
plants by the late Dr. J. T. Burgess of Spilsby, 1879-1910, ivere shown. 
These were used by the Rev. E. A. Woodriiffe Peacock for records in his 
‘ Oheck-Tust of Lincolnshire Plants ’ of 1909. A list of some of the 
rarer ones is given in The Naturalist, 1893. 
Miss E. J. Gibbons. 
Bolivian Gentians. 
The exhibit consisted of 18 sheets from a collection of Bolivian 
])la.nts made for the British Museum (Natural History) by the exhi- 
bitor. Specimens named included Gentiana prostmta, G. secUfolia, G- 
Kuntzei, G. inaequicalyx, G. gynophora, G. longipes, G. erythrnchrysea 
and G. priuiuloides. 
^liss W. M. A. Brooke. 
Variation in SCHOENUS NIGBICANS T.. 
Samples of Schoenus nigricans L. were collected from i^arioiis locali- 
ties in the British Isles, and imrious characters were measured. The 
figures obtained were analysed statistically and displayed as a series of 
graphs. These showed a discontinuous range of variation in the height 
of the floAvering shoot, apparently related to eiwironment. The samples 
from Irish and Scottish blanket bog had much shorter flowering shoots 
than those from Irish and English fens and southern English valley 
bogs. A similar range of variation was apparent in the size of the outer 
bract of the flowering head, but there ivas no discontinuity. The num- 
