QUERIES IN LOCAL TOPOGRAPHICAL BOTANY. 263 
The counties of Devon and Cornwall are well situated for the in- 
vestigation of this point. Bentham writes of the Smyrnium as 
" probably really indigenous in several of the maritime counties of 
southern England and Ireland;" and Babington puts no mark of 
suspicion against it in his Manual. I have, however, so generally 
found it located close to villages and old houses, and moreover so 
often associated with certainly denizen and notoriously alien species, 
that I must differ from these high authorities, so far as Devon and 
Cornwall are concerned. It is, however, completely naturalized, 
renewing itself abundantly by seed. De Candolle says that of all 
the Umbelliferae serving for vegetables this was one of the com- 
monest in gardens for about fifteen centuries, but now it is dis- 
carded. We can trace its culture from its commencement to its end. 
" At the conclusion of the eighteenth century a knowledge of its 
having been formerly cultivated remained; thenceforward," says 
he, ' 'both English and French horticulturists speak of it no more." 
— Origin des Plantes Cultivees, 72, 73. I consider the Fennel also 
a naturalized, not indigenous, plant. 
Common names, former uses, and early beliefs attached to such 
species as the Smyrnium are of especial value to botanists. Philo- 
logists, and those studying the works of the older writers, may often 
help us to arrive at just conclusions as to the real position of a 
plant in a country or district, as indigenous or otherwise. Some 
species have also long and interesting histories belonging to them 
in the form of notices of first discovery and subsequent record 
through a series of years. In our part of the country we find the 
names of many botanists and men of science and learning for 
several past generations linked with such a history of one of our 
local species, Physospennum cornubiense, D.C. It is known in the 
United Kingdom in Devon and Cornwall only, and here occupies 
comparatively a very inconsiderable area. Through the kindness 
and untiring research of the Eev. W. W. Newbould, I am enabled 
to give many interesting particulars as to how this plant became 
added to the British flora. Mr. Newbould has gathered information 
for me from books and herbaria at the British Museum, the Linnasan 
Society's Eooms, &c. The earliest published records of the plant 
as British are by Petiver in his Herbaria Britannica Catalogus, 
and by Dillenius in his edition, the 3rd, of Pay's Synopsis, the 
latter published in 1724. Petiver's text has the name " Saxifraga 
Comubiae, raro," and a reference to a plate. This, Mr. Newbould 
