244 
THE JOURNAL OF ROTANY 
volume on Oxford Gardens , one gathers that this Garden is not 
University property, but is leased from Magdalen College, which largely 
retains control; and the President of Magdalen emphasized the foster¬ 
ing care of previous horticulturally-inclined Bursars. However, as 
Sir David Prain pointed out, the underlying motive of the founders 
was the relief of human suffering and the possible service of humanity, 
rather than the creation of a pleasaunce for aged University dons and 
nursemaids ; and, as any further endowment would appear but as an 
attempt to gild the Magdalen lily, it is quite time that the University 
considered the advisability of supplying its School of Botany with a 
teaching and experimental garden of its own, more in touch with 
modern ideas and research. 
Tiie Thirty-ninth Annual Report of the Watson Botanical 
Exchange Club (1922-23) contains as usual numerous notes on 
critical genera—notably Rubus (by Mr. Biddelsdell), Sorbus, Eu¬ 
phrasia, Salix and Carex—Hieracium is conspicuous by its absence ; 
but nothing that seems to call for quotation. Mr. Little describes 
from fresh specimens a hybrid Epilobium (E. palustre xparviforum) 
from Hertfordshire. A note on Ficaria will strengthen the view 
of those who think that “ varieties ” are sometimes based on insuffi¬ 
cient data: 
“ R. Ficaria var. incumbens Bab.Bather poor examples of 
a variation that appears to be rare in an extreme form . . . . Jas. W. 
White. I should put this under type ; only one leaf on my specimen 
has the leaves slightly overlapping. G. C. D[ruce]. It may be so 
when alive, but the leaves (in my example) in the discomfort of 
of being pressed have spread out their lobes and become var. diver- 
gens. C. E. S[almon~].” 
There is a plate of Circium eriophorum subsp. anglicum Petrak— 
a plant which lias had the distinction of being twice figured but of 
which no description lias yet, we believe, been published, to which we 
referred on p. 159 (where the specific name is omitted). We note 
that Pceonia coralline is retained for the Steep Holm Peony; 
Miller’s earlier name (P. mascula ) is adopted, we think correctly, 
in the Cambridge British Flora^- why, by the way, is the English 
name always in that work spelt “ Paeony ” F We note that a certain 
number of European plants have been distributed to the members, 
contributed by various botanists. The Beport is chiefly edited by 
Mr. J. E. Little, who is also responsible for the distribution for the 
year ; the number of specimens sent in was 2735. 
The early publication is announced of an Official Catalogue of 
Standardized Riant Names, which has been compiled and arranged 
by the American Joint Committee on Horticultural Nomenclature, 
v 
who have entrusted the work to a subcommittee consisting of 
Messrs. F. L. Olmsted, E. V. Coville, and H. P. Kelsey ; Prof. L. 
H. Bailey has also been consulted. The Catalogue, we are told, “will 
be accepted as the standard authority for all dealings in and current 
literature about plants in the United States. It is not offered a§ 
a new and different scientific system of nomenclature, but rather as 
