[ I S3 3 
XXII. A Letter to Mr. William Watfon, 
F. R. S. fro?n Mr, Philip Miller, F, R. S* 
concerning a Mi fake of Profeffor Gmelin, 
concerning the Sphondylium vulgare hirfu- 
tum of Cafpar Bauhin. 
Read May 3, "T N the abffradt of the Flora Sibirica , 
1 75 3 * ^ which you laid before the Royal So- 
ciety at their laft meeting, there was mentioned, 
that the inhabitants of Siberia eat the ftalks of the 
Sphondylium hirfutum C. B. P. But I have great 
reafon to believe Profeffor Gmelin has miftaken 
the fpecies : For he defcribes that plant as growing 
upward of fix feet high ; whereas the common 
fort (as you well obferved) feldom riles much above 
half that height. Therefore I am of the opinion, that 
the plant mentioned by Profeffor Gmelin is that fpe- 
cies, which Dodfor Breynius mentions, in his lecond. 
Brodromus , under the title of Sphondylium maximum * 
‘Tranfilvanicum Pic ini folio-, the feeds of widen x 
brought from. Dr. Boerhaave’s garden in the yeai 
1727, where it was growing by the common fort of 
Cafpar Bauhin, and in the fame foil and fituation was 
more than twice the height \ and the fame has con- 
tinued in the growth of both thefe plants fince, in 
the Chelfea-Garden ; where the large fort conftantly 
rifes to a Item, at leafl a month fooner in the fpring 
than the common fort, and the leaves are much larger, 
lefs divided, and not fo hairy ; fo that there can be 
no doubt of their being diftindt fpecies. The leaves 
of both forts I have fent for your infpedtion. 
U 
The 
