1804. ] 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
N the truly ingenuous difpofition of 
the amiable author of the Flora Bri- 
tannica, and the attention he has already 
done me the honour to pay to a former re- 
mark, * in the Appendix to the third vol. 
of his work, I confidently rely for the can- _ 
did reception of fome additional obferva- 
tions, which nothing but @ fincere defire 
" to obviate even the {mallet imperfection, 
of this truly national Flora, cculd have 
prompted me to fuggeft: although, indeed, 
the communication of one individual can. 
not materially aid the promotion of {cience, 
yet it is by the accumulation of the re- 
marks of individual enquirers, that its ad- 
vancement and perfection can be effected. 
The remarks which.I have now to offer, 
I purpofe to ftate in the fame mifcellane- 
ous form in which they occurred to my 
obfervation ; though not altogether with- 
out regard to their methodical arrange- 
ment. 
Page 96. Poa fluitans, was firft remov- 
ed from the Feffucas, by Scopoli, in his 
Flora Carniolica, 73; a fynonym which 
fhould have preceded that of Salifbury’s 
Prodromus. ; 
Page 145. The obfervation refpecting 
the newly conftituted genus Calamagrofiis, 
is fo vaguely expreffed as to be either un- 
derftood to imply that, ‘ the very natu- 
ral genus Arundo ought never to be fepa- 
rated, on account of the variation in dif- 
ferent fpecies of the number of their 
florets:”’ or that, ‘*the genus being by 
no means natural,” for the fame reafon, 
“« fheuld be feparated !”’ It is almoft ircre- 
dible what errors have arifen from, and 
what ob{curity has been occafioned by, 
the inattention of even the moit eminent 
naturalifts, to the grammatical contftruc- 
tion of their (cientific de(criptions.+ 
Page 230. Axagallis arvenfis. Dr. 
Smith has very properly incorporated the 
difcrimisating feature of the {potted leaves 
with the f{pecific character, but has neg- 
lected to notice in his defcription of 
this fpecies, as well as the tenella, the 
more remarkable peculiarity of the arti- 
culated hairs of the Ramina. 
Page 261. Lonicera Periclymenum. 
The defcription of the colour cf the 
* Monthly Magazine, vol. 16, p. 532. 
*| For fome remarks on the inelegance of 
the language, ufed in the defcriptions of natu- 
ral hiftory, J beg leave to refer the reader 
toa letter I communicated in the fifth vo- 
lume of this Magazine, page 109, where the 
fignature is mifprinted, R. H. NV. 
Montuiy Mac. No. 121. 
Remarks on the Flora Britannica. 
3138 
flowers would be more correftly exprefled, 
6¢ imtus ochroleuci, exfus rubicundi,”’ 
Page267. Hedera Helix. Spec. Char. 
foliis, caulinis, lobatis, floralibus ovatis. 
Page 392. Rumex obtufifolius. Nervi 
foliorum fpius rubicundi. Tam fur- 
prized that this circumftance, remarked by 
Curtis, is unnoticed in the Flora Britan- 
nica, 
Page aio. Epilobium hirfutum. The 
{pecific charafter is taken from the Flora 
Londinenfis, and likewile that of the fetra- 
gonum, varying only in the latter, the term 
integerimdy for its fynonyin zndivi/o. 
Page 425. Polygonum lapathifolium. 
The depreffure of the feeds theuld not 
form.a part of the fpecific charaéter, as it 
is by no means a permanent mark of dif- 
tinction, in aj] the varieties of this {pecies. 
It would perhaps be more ap'ly exprefled ; 
—Polygonum floribus hexandris digynis, 
pedunculis fcabris, {picis ovato-fubrotun- 
dis, ftipulis muticis. 
The variety, ‘‘caule maculato,” of 
Curtis, which he thought might poffibly 
be diftiné&t, is evidently otherwife, both 
from the unvaried form and ftruéture of 
the leaves, and the entire habit of th 
plant. 
Page 501. Ceraftium aquaticum. Stel- 
laria aquatica, Scopoli; to which genus 
indeed, the ftruéture of its petals would 
refer it, did nat the precifion of an artifi-~ 
cial fyftem require its continuance in its 
prefent fituation. 
Page 596. Ranunculus aquatilis. To 
the remarks which I fuggetted in a pre- 
ceding letter*, and to the teftimony of 
feveral of the mere eminent continental 
botanifts, confirming the propriety of fepa- 
rating the two leading varieties of this 
fpecies. Ihave to add my confirmed con- 
vittion, that the elongation of the leaves 
of the fluviatilis, is the natural habit of 
the plant, conftruéted for the fituation in 
which it grows, and by no means the ex- 
clufive effet of the courfe of the fiream, 
Its fpecific character ts ; 
Ranunculus foliis omnibus dichotomos 
eapillaceis, caule natante. Willd. Spec. 
Piani, 1332. 
Page 62% Lamium amplexicaule, ha- 
bitus wix purpurei; a quo prima facie 
notis quam maximeé obviis abunde difcre- 
pat. In priori, verticilli per totam plan- 
tam rarius difpofiti funt, in altevo, planta 
inferne nudiufcula evadit, florefcent:a in 
fummo caule verticillata denfius coarfiata. 
Page 641. Thymus Acitos, ** calyce 
gibbofo,” though certainly a permanent 
* Vol, 16, p. 533+ 
sis bars feature 
