Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/326

 298 ON THE FLORA OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT.

There is a slight confusion in the ' Flora Vectensis ' in the case of some few plants as to book authorities, cf. Mentha rotund'ifolia and M. piperita, with the Bot. Guide and Fl. Vectiana ; also the Doctor omits generally to give Mr. Snooke's references to lirst discoverers (this last writer, how- evei', is not always correct).

But I must only further refer to the subject of localities by citiug one or two additional extracts, besides those which I have given in former numbers. The author of ' Holiday Excursions of a Naturalist ' writes, that he found " Tkesium on' the chalk downs (p. 50); near Luccombe, under the cliffs, gi-ew the LatJii/rns sylvestris, ]\'Iadder, and Asperula cynanchica'' (p. 53) ; " we found Orchis fusca in a thicket in the Under- cliff; Irisfoelidissiiiia abounded in places — Monotropa and Sileue ai/glica, also to be found," this at Ventnor (p. 53) (has O. fusca really been found in the island ?) ; then at Clarisbrooke " we picked Thesium below the castle walls, and Astragalus Ibj poijlottis and Teucriuni Chanuedrys are also to be found in this locality" (p. 56). As regards the last two plants our author is evidently quoting from ancient authority, which had perhaps no solid foundation in fact.

In Priscilla Wakefield's 'Family Tour through the British Empire,' 15th ed. IS^O) 1 find that (p. 455) near Ventnor "the elegant wood- vitch, larger tumitory, and wild maddor (so are the plants named) were presented to the young botanists."

As I have elsewhere stated ('Science Gossip,' 1870, p. 261), there are thirty-two Isle of Wight plants given in the ' Hampshire Repository List.' These are cited in the ' Flora Vectensis ' as due to Pulteuey ; the author's explanation of the matter is given in the ' Phytologist,' vol. iii. p. 428. 'J'he authors of the 'Botanist's Guide' (1805) quoted this list as Pnlteney's, yet they could hardly have seen it, I think, as they omit references to sixteen of the Isle of Wight plants, and other plants, as I have shown (S. G. I.e. supra), they quote as on Pulteney's authority, which are not included in the list. These last may possibly have been taken from the 'Catalogue of Plants of Dorset." As the Vectensian plants in this list are so few, and the work is a scarce one, I have thought it well to transcribe it. Iris fuitida. Isle of WHght ; Tamarix gallica. Freshwater, Isle of W^ight ; Liiiuni usitatissimum, Isle of Wight ; L. te- nuifoliuw, near Ryde, Isle of Wight ; Scitla verna, near Newport, Isle of Weight ; Chlora pcrfoliata. Isle of Wight ; Erica vulg., cinerea, Tetralix, all varieties white. Isle of Wight ; Teucriuni Chanicedrys, Carisbrooke Castle, Isle of Wight ; Orofianche ccerulea, Steephill, Isle of W^ght ; Pisum maritimum, Saiidown Beach, Isle of Weight ; Lathi/rus latifoUus, ditto; Cineraria alpina, Belhan, fl.. Isle of Wight; Ophrys apifera, Steephill and Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight ; Osmunda regalis. Isle of Wight, — all these are given in the ' Botanist's Guide.' Vinca major, Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, the authors quote on the authority of Withering. The following they pass over altogether: — Convolvulus Soldanella, Brading Harbour, Isle of Wight; Chironia Centaurea, var. white, Isle of Wight ; Thesium. Unophyllnm, Steephill, Isle of Wight ; Gentiana collina, found by Dr. Withering upon the barrows in the highest part of Afton Down, east of Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight ; Crithnium maritimum, or Samphire, on the chalk cliffs, from the Needles to Freshwater Gate, Isle of Wight ; Eryngium, maritim.uw. Isle of Wight; Narthecinni OHsifragiim., Freshwater Beach, Isle of Wight; Jrenaria marina (J. rubra, liuds.), Freshwater

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