66 
NATURE NOTES. 
that one would associate a spinescent character, as is implied 
by the word “ horrida,” with a barren sandy soil; as a spinous 
state is extremely common on sandy wastes and deserts. 
Does it, therefore, grow on the blown sand hills, away from 
the sea and out of the immediate influence of salt spray ? 
Erythrcca Centaurium is a species which appears to perplex 
systematists. Hooker makes four subspecies, while Babington 
makes five species and Wyman seven. Of Hooker’s subspecies 
Iatifolia, he records “shores near Liverpool” as a locality; E. 
chloodes, a variety of the subsp. littoralis, is found on “ sandy 
shores N. to Shetland.” Subsp. pulchella is found on “sandy 
ground from Dumfries and Haddington southward,” while var. 
E. tenuiflora occurs in “ the Isle of Wight,” and the subsp. capitata 
grows “ on the Downs of the Isle of Wight and Eastbourne.” 
Now besides noting more particularly the environments of 
these subspecies, it would be a great boon to science if local 
botanists would collect the seed and sow it in a different soil 
and locality, and see how far the subspecies and varieties retained 
their characters by heredity, or whether they did not change and 
pass one into another as soon as their environments were altered. 
Thus E. capitata , which is a dwarfish form, like all “ Down ” 
plants, might assume the typical form common in pastures if 
grown in the richer soil of a good meadow or garden. I would 
add that it would be worth while cultivating several of the other 
dwarf plants of the chalk downs. 
From these few examples it will be seen that two things are 
wanted — observations of the environment and experiments. As the 
summer is at hand, I would ask all who are interested in botany 
to supply me with such observations as they may make, 
especially upon the environment of varieties and subspecies, 
taking Hooker’s Students' Flora as a guide.* 
As examples for experiment I would suggest the cultivation 
of maritime plants inland and vice versa ; or again, the sowing 
the seeds of any form of Ranunculus aquatilis on wet soil, and that 
of R. hederaceus in water, as well as of R. flammula on dry ground 
to test the stability of the species.f 
Again, it would be interesting to see if seed of Potamogetons 
or Pond-weeds would grow on mud ; and thence could be trans- 
ferred to dry ground, to discover if an aquatic plant normally 
entirely submerged may not be converted into a terrestrial one in 
two or three generations. 
* To aid collectors I have had printed a catalogue of all the species, subspecies 
and varieties given in Hooker’s Students' I-'lora , which I have called “The 
Students’ Catalogue of British Hants.” It should be interleaved. I shall be 
glad to send a copy to any applicant on receipt of 7d. in stamps. — George 
l lENSLOW, Drayton House , Ealing. 
f I should be grateful to anyone who would send me ripe seeds of any aquatic, 
mud or damp-loving species of Ranunculus for similar experimental purposes. If 
the seed of an aquatic plant has to be preserved through the winter, it may per- 
haps require to be kept in w r ater, as it naturally falls to the bottom when mature. 
