Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/333

 SHORT NOTES AND QUERIES. ' 305

daring liis visit this summer to Enoland. Tlioiigli not exactly the R. pUcafiis of iiortheni England, theie can be no doubt of the correctness of considering this form (\\ liicli occurs also in Surrey) as one of those whicii the name R. plicatus, W. and N., comprehends. Professor Aresehoug, with much acumen, at once separated this plant in its growing state from the neighbouring bushes of R. cordifulliis, by contrasting its sepals, which are a light and almost vivid green externally, with those of the latter, which are a dull drab heavy green on their outer surface. — J.L. Warren.

��Phytolacca icosanura, L. — In Nicaragua this plant springs up on newly-cleared ground ; and on the banks of the river San Juan it is called " Culalii,^' and eaten instead of Spinach. I saw the men bring quantities of it, especially the top parts of the plant, on board the steamers, whenever they went on shore ; and can endorse the opinion that Calalu is an ex- cellent potherb. If I remember rightly, F. icomtidra is cultivated in the vine-growing districts of Southern Germany on account of its black fruit, largely used for conveiting white wines into red. — Berthold Seemann.

��Monstrosity of Viola sylvatica (p. 24.4). — Since I took a speci- men of the crested Viola to Kew, 1 have been able to collect some curious facts on the same subject, which I think worth recording. From Mr. Wollaston I have received accounts of two other instances of crested Viola that have come under his notice. One grew in the garden of the late Mr. Swynfen Jervis, of Darlaston, Staflbrdshire, on the corm of Filix-mas cridata ; the other in Mr. Wollastou's own garden, very close to PolypoJiiim. viilgare v. crislatum, but not actually on the plant. Here there are three instances, from Gloucestershire, Staffordshire, and Kent, of the Viola be- coming crested when growing near crested Ferns. Scolopendrinm endivee folium was first raised at Mr. Young's, at Taunton. He asserted that it was a hybrid bi tween a common Scolopendrinm and an Endive growing together. I suppose no one would believe this, and he was far too good a botanist to believe it himself; but it may be another instance of a plant copying its neighbour. I was this week in the garden of Captain Jones, of Clifton. He rears a large number of Fern monstrosities, with which he is very successful. But 1 was surprised to find in his houses that the air is apparently so charged with monstrosities that even his normal plants acquire abnormal habits. Thus, his Jsploduni Nidus has a bifid frond ; the pinnules of his Woodwnrdia radicans are crested ; and his Blechinim anslrale is sagittate. From all these facts, it seems very pro- bable that contiguity has some influence on the forms of plants. The subject is a very interesting one, but 1 am too ignorant in the science of vegetable teratology to do more than record the facts. — Henry N. Ellacombe.

��Cystopteris fragilis in O.xfordshire. — In July, this year, I found Cystopteris fragilis growing on the north wall of South Newington Church, near Banbury, in Oxfordshire. Tiiere miglit have been sofne twentv ]ihuits, for the most part small in sizt;. The Vicar has since seut

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