Scientific Intelligence . — Botany. 181 
& great number of newly formed flowers, which do not come 
forward, but fall off. The seeds of L . corniculatus are brown 
and spotted with dark spots ; those of L. minor brown without 
spots’; those of L. major greenish white, and without spots. The 
long straggling hairs upon the teeth of the calyx in L. major 
and corniculatus are wanting in L . minor. In the barest moors, 
the stems of L. corniculatus creep immediately below the sur- 
face for half their length or more, sometimes taking root ; these 
stems can always be traced to the parent root, which descends 
perpendicularly into the earth : the stems of L. minor rest upon 
the surface of the earth. The strong stems of L. major grow rather 
erect, and its root is creeping, white, and tinged with red at the 
joints. The standard or vexillum of the flower in L. minor is 
rounder than in either of the others ; that of L. major is most 
elliptical ; the calyx of L. minor is more acuminate towards its 
base, than in major or corniculatus. There are marked diffe- 
rences in the taste of these different plants, especially in the 
roots : the roots of L . corniculatus are sweet and pleasant : 
those of L. major feel astringent, like so much oak-bark in the 
mouth : those of L. minor , are rather viscous and astringent, 
and not at all pleasant.'” This] last plant seems nearly allied to 
L. tenuissimus of Sir J. E. Smith’s English Flora. — 3. Potamo- 
geton compressum . — This rare species of pond-weed grows in a 
small loch, in perfectly still water, quite erect, and generally 
about two feet high. — 4. Asplenium alternifolium . This was ori- 
ginally observed by the late distinguished Mr Dickson of Covent 
Garden, growing on “ sunny rocks two miles from Kelso,” and 
no other botanist had ever gathered it : from an observation in 
Dr Hooker’s Flora Scotica, that “ in Switzerland it is quite an 
alpine species,” it appears that Mr Dickson’s accuracy was rather 
questioned ; but it is now placed beyond a doubt. 
32. Ledum palustre and Papaver nudicaule. — Our botanical 
readers will be not a little surprised to learn, that these plants, 
hitherto considered as peculiar almost to the Arctic Regions, 
now fall to be added to the British Flora. The credit of their 
discovery is due to Sir Charles Giesecke, who, in examining the 
mineralogy of the numerous small islands on the West Coast of 
Ireland, was delighted to meet with two old vegetable friends 
whose acquaintance he had made in Greenland, growing on the 
