Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/354

 326 Astragalus glycyphylllus I observed on the coast betwixt Montrose and Arbroath. A species of this genus which Hudson, and after him Mr. Lightfoot, have taken for the A. arenarius, of Linnæus, grows plentifully along the whole coast. It is now found to be widely different from that plant, but what its proper name should be seems not yet fully determined. Retzius, in his 'Observationes Botanicæ,' remarks that it is very nearly allied to the Astragalus danicus, but yet seems different. In the second edition of 'Withering's Botanical Arrangement,' this name is given it, but with some impropriety, as Retzius's plant is annual, while the plant found in this country is perennial. In the 'Hortus Kewensis' it has been called Astragalus hypoglottis, but it does by no means altogether correspond with the specific character which Linnæus has given to that species. Considering this diversity of opinion, I should be led to imagine that this plant is as yet undescribed, or if at all described, it is certainly but ill characterized, or distinguished from those to which it is most nearly allied. For it is certain that it very well expresses the specific characters of several species of Astragalus.

Trifolium medium grows by the sides of hedges in several parts of Angus. Concerning this plant likeways there has been a considerable diversity of opinion. In the first edition of the 'Flora Anglica' it is called the Trifolium medium, the name which it should still retain. In the second edition of the same work, and in the 'Flora Scotica' it has, however, been named Trifolium alpestre. Jacquin, in his 'Flora Austriaca,' has made it a new species, giving it the name of Trifolium flexuosum, which is adopted in the second edition of 'Withering's Botanical Arrangement.' But in a paper wrote by Afzelius, and published in the "Transactions of the Linnean Society," it is proved that the plant in question is nothing else than the Trifolium medium of Linnaeus.

Hyoseris minima grows in several cornfields about Forfar. It was inserted in the 'Flora Scotica' on Sibbald's authority, but no place of growth mentioned.

I observed likeways a variety of the Carduus Marianus, with leaves altogether green, about a mile from Dundee.

Solidago cambrica was observed in the western parts of Angus. According to Lightfoot, it is only a variety of Virga-aurea, produced by the particular soil in which it grows. But since that period cultivation has ascertained them specifically distinct.

Doronicum Pardalianches grows in shady ground several miles west from Montrose. This plant has never yet been found in England, but was observed in Scotland by Mr. Lightfoot in some parts of Annandale; as he always found it near buildings, however, he concludes that it has probably escaped from gardens. But in the place which I now mention this could not possibly have happened; and I likeways met with it in Perthshire, in a situation which confirms me in this opinion; and besides, it may be remarked, that it is a plant very rarely, if ever, to be found in gardens, at least in this age. I would, therefore, upon the whole, suppose this plant to be an original native of this country; though it may be found in situations which may lead to the opinion of its having escaped from gardens.

Anthemis tinctoria was a few years ago observed in some cornfields about Forfar, but cannot now be found. It is not at all mentioned by Lightfoot, and is very scarce in England, nor is it in all probability an