}^ATURE NOTES 
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biennial, and the latter a perennial. The following characters may assist in 
identification ; The leaves in alpinum are mostly radical, forming a rosette, the 
ray florets are spreading, much longer than the disc, and of a better colour than 
those of acre, which are nearly upright and of a very washy purple usually, and 
scarcely longer than the disc. In acre the stems are usually leafy and branched, 
with a flower at the end of each branch ; in alpinum the stems are generally 
simple and single-flowered. Both species flower in early autumn. The stature 
of the plants is negligible, because, on account of the wind, practically all weak 
plants would be dwarfed on such a place as Dover cliffs. 
C. Nicholson. 
Since I wrote the above Miss Baggallay has kindly sent me some of the 
plants in question at my request, and there is no doubt that they are only 
E. acre. The colour of the ray florets is much better than I have seen hitherto 
in that species. 
C. Nicholson. 
683. “Nature Notes in Touraine.”— In his interesting article in the 
November number under this title, L. H. D. Buxton says Pediculaiis palustris 
often accompanies Polygala where “the soil is slightly damp.” Surely he means 
Pedicularis sylvatica, which is generally found in da7tip places, while P. palustris 
usually grows in wet bogs, where Polygala scarcely ever occurs, I think, it being, 
as a rule, a lover of rather dry places. 
C. Nicholson. 
684. White Whortleberries. — In the Answers to Correspondents, in 
the October number of Nature Notes, I see that no record could be found of 
white-fruited whortleberries ( tnyrtillus). In “The Wild Flowers of 
Great Britain” by Hogg and Johnson, in the notes on this plant, it is stated 
“ The Duke of Atholl discovered a variety with white berries growing in the 
woods about midway between his residences of Dunkeld and Blair (Lightfoot).” 
“ Linnoeus says that in Upper Tornea (Sweden ?) the berries of the cowberry are 
often perfectly white.” 
L. C. 
685. November Flowers. — From all parts of the country records have 
reached us of the abnormal persistence of our summer flora during this mild 
autumn, but perhaps the following letter from the Daily Chronicle is the most 
remarkable : — 
“ Are the seasons topsy-turvy? My girls brought to school to-day flowers of 
hawthorn, wild rose, primrose, violet, periwinkle, broom, holly, wild strawberry, 
in addition to the ordinary autumn flowers — in all 105 species. This is a very 
unusual record for a station so far north.” 
Kendal, November 3. Lucy M. Reynolds. 
686. Potato Disease. — All living things, including those in the vegetable 
world, are liable to disease and death ; and as they draw nearer and nearer to 
the end of their existence the infirmities of age increase. It is probably the 
effects of old age that render the potato so liable to disease. , In nature the flower 
of the potato is fertilized in the ordinary way ; and the seed from this springs up, 
constantly ensuring a new birth and fresh cross. Man, however, prefers to sow 
the tuber, and perpetuates the same plant. It may be thought that crosses and 
varieties start life with the vigour of youth and robust constitution, but as man 
has in the vast majority of instances reared his crop for centuries from the tuber, 
new births from seed proper have descended from a stock enfeebled by age and 
tainted with disease. It is doubtful if a really healthy potato can now be raised, 
and the injury of centuries undone. 
The old Madeira vine is a similar case. It was propagated by slips and 
cuttings, and at last became so feeble from old age as to succumb to the attacks 
of phylloxera and other ills. 
The Ribston Pippin is almost an apple of the past, owing to the same cause. 
Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
687. Merrivale Antiquities. — I was much interested in your note, 
under “ Selborniana,” in the November number of Nature Notes, with regard 
