154 
Miscellaneous. 
distinctness. Concerning the latter, Fries himself, when writing about 
S. ciliata, says, “ cilia foliorum plus minus distincta, saepe decidua 
he also says, “ capsula . . . matura nutans,’" but his own specimens 
show that this is too strong an expression ; for although nodding 
whilst the fruit ripens, they become erect at the time of maturity 
w’hen the capsule opens and the seeds are shed. S. patula (Jordan), 
Obs. sur PI. Nouv. de la France, i. t. 3, is very similar to our plant, 
but differs by having numerous gland-tipped hairs on its sepals and 
the upper part of the peduncle. To it probably belongs the S. ciliata 
of Reichenbach, both of his ‘ FI. Excurs.’ and ‘ leones Plant.’ v. 
tab. 200. f. 4956, and >S. depressa, f. 4957, unless the protruded cap- 
sule of the former should be considered as distinguishing it. Neither 
of them can be the >S. ciliata of Fries, since they are both figured and 
described as having glandular-pilose peduncles and calyx. The fol- 
lowing seems to be the distinctive character of our plant ; — 
>S. ciliata (Fries !) ; stem elongated, branches diffuse or ascending, 
leaves linear awned, outer sepals acute longer than the petals and 
shorter than the capsule, apex of the peduncles reflexed after flower- 
ing ultimately erect. — Sven. Bot. t. 562, not Reich. — Glabrous ; 
central stem elongated and fertile. Leaves with or without cilia at 
their base, tipped with a long bristle. Calyx of mature fruit ad- 
pressed to the capsule. Tubercles on the seeds blunt. — The figure 
quoted above from the ‘ Sven. Bot.’ is far from good. It represents 
all the sepals as gradually narrowed into a long acute point. Not 
so the specimens published under Fries’s own superintendence 
(Herb. Norm. Suec. i. 42), which resemble ours in ijiis respect, 
having two shortly acute sepals and two only pointed or cuspidate 
ones. — C. C. B. 
CAREX BRIZOIDES (lINN.). 
I am indebted to Mr. William Stevens of the Drumlanrig gardens 
for specimens of this addition to the flora of Britain, which w'^as dis- 
covered in July 1844 by Mr. W. Macivor in Studley Wood, York- 
shire. Its specific character may be stated as follows : — C. brizoides 
(L.) ; spikelets several all simple contiguous sterile at their base 
alternate in a simple spike, stigmas 2, fruit lanceolate plano-con- 
vex bifid at the end serrated from near the base, nut (elliptical 
beaked and stalked ?), glumes rather shorter than the fruit, root 
creeping, bracts short or none. — Reich. Icon. FI. Germ. viii. tab. 207. 
fig. 548 ; Hoppe Car. Germ, in Sturm Deutschl. FI. tab. a. 23. — Stem 
a foot high. Glumes acute, silvery brown. Leaves long, slender, 
equalling or overtopping the spikes. Rhizoma creeping extensively. 
— C. C.B. 
8ome Contributions to the Natural History of the Rafflesia Patma. 
By M. Zollinger, M. Bat. Soc. &c. 
This flower, which still continues a problem in botany and a rarity 
in the collections of botanists, appears not to be so scarce as has 
hitherto been believed. I know that it occurs on the south coast of 
Java on the hills near the boundaries of the Residencies of Passariiwan 
