Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/167

 SHORT NOTES AND QUERIES. 149

Accent in Botanical Names. — In the remarks on this subject by Mr. Kobert Tucker, he gives two instances in which I " stand alone," — Fetroselinuin and XJrtlca. It is by a typog-rapliical error in each case ; in both words the penult is long ; and as I have accented by the length of syllables, the accent shoidd be immediately after the i in these names. — J. BoswELL Syme.

��Sarracenia purpurea, L. — In Provancher's ' Flore Canadienne,' t. i. p. 30, it is stated that this curious plant is often cultivated in gardens in its native country, and that it may be grown in a damp place or in an artificial marsh covered with Sphagnum. The author states, also, that if carefully transplanted in early spring, there is no difficulty in getting it to flower in ordinary garden soil. The attempt to grow it in the open air is rarely made in this country. At the Glasnevin Botanic Gardens, however, a fine plant has flourished for the past five years in a small bog by the side of the lake. Nothing could be more satisfactory than the appearance of the clump of certainly not less than two dozen well- developed pitchers, and this, notwithstanding that in winter it is covered with water often frozen over and skated upon. Dr. Moore had a second plant, but this was stolen by a too unscrnpnlous admirer. Borne years ago the rhizomes were introduced into this country as a projwsed remedy for smallpox. Had the plant proved to have been of any value in this respect, it would not have probably been difficult to have grown a suf- ficient supply of it. — W. T. Thiselton Dyer.

��Arabis stricta. Suds. — In the Supplementary List of Plants for Somersetshire, given on the authority of the late Rev. J. C. Collins, in INIr. H. C. Watson's ' Botanist's Guide,' Arabis stricta is mentioned as liaving been observed at Cheddar and rocks on the Quantoch Hills, near Merridge. Can any correspondent of the ' Journal of Botany ' inform me if specimens, have been collected from these localities of late years ? I may take the present opportunity of stating that I should feel greatly indebted to botanists for any information respecting the more rare and critical plants of the county, having for many seasons past made its flora my especial study. — T. B. Flower.

��Mistletoe on the Oak. — In addition to the old localities previously cited, I find the following in ' Ilortus Collinsonianus ' (privately printed by L. W. Dillwyn, 184-3): — "On the Oak (which is very rare) Mr. Knowlton has twice seen it. In August, 1763, three plants were found

growing on the oak on the estate of AVhite, Esq., at Watling,

Wells." — J. Britten.

��Uses of Piiragmites communis. — The economic applications of many of our British plants are fast passing into the region of antiquity. Amongst our grasses the common Reed {Fhrugmites communis, Trin.) was one of the most useful to the peasantry in marshy districts. The stems were not only very generally used for thatching, but also for partitions of rooms instead of laths, being plastered over in a similar manner. They were also used in place of boards for building up the sides of sheds and outhouses, and for fences and screens in gardens to protect fruit trees. Though they are still used for these purposes in some parts of the country,

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