Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/355

 Rh original native of this country, but has perhaps been imported with grain.

Sparganium natansgrows in pools of stagnant water a mile east from Forfar. According to Hudson, it is a variety of his Sparganium simplex, but there can be little doubt that they are perfectly distinct species.

Carex limosa likeways grows near the same place. It is said in the 'Flora Scotica' to grow near Crief; but the figure referred to by Mr. Lightfoot evidently represents the Curex panicen, as has already been observed in the 'Botanical Arrangement.'

Salix arenaria, of Lightfoot, I observed plentifully in loose sandy ground near Montrose. It is, however, perfectly distinct from the plant so called by Linnæus, as appears from comparing it with that author's description. The S. arenaria, of Linnæus, is about the height of a man, but this plant is only about 10 inches in length and lies close to the ground. As we know the vast changes produced by a diversity of soil on this genus of plants, which have never yet been systematically arranged, I am not altogether certain whether this plant may not be a variety of the S. repens, but I am rather inclined to believe them specifically distinct.

I was informed that the Equisetum hyemale grows in the western part of Angus. It is inserted in the 'Flora Scotica,' but no place of growth mentioned.

Pilularia globulifera I observed in ground that is overflowed in the winter, near Belmont. It is likeways inserted by Mr. Lightfoot; but neither authority given nor place of growth mentioned.

With these remarks I beg leave to conclude my paper, which, it must be owned, in very few parts admits of discussion; on this account I should certainly not have presumed to lay it before the Society, had I not thought that the narration of facts of such especially as tend to illustrate in any degree the natural history of the country which we inhabit, was perfectly consonant with the views of this institution.

[The "authority," several times mentioned in the above essay, is doubtless George Don the elder. It is probable that he was Robert Brown's companion in some of his excursions. In Headrick's 'General View of the Agriculture of Angus' (1813), Don published an "account of the native plants" of the country; Galium erectum and Turritis glabra (see above) are both included in this list, and he there (p. 20) claims the discovery of Eriophorum alpinum, in 1791, for himself, adding that it was "the first and only time it has been found in Great Britain; he also mentions that Schœnus Mariscus formerly grew there, but does not mention Lysimachia thyrsiflora, which Brown collected with the others. This may perhaps indicate that the two botanists independently found species in the same year. In the British Museum Herbarium, however, are specimens of the Eriophorum with a ticket in Brown's hand, running thus, "Shell Marle Moss of Restenet, a mile east of Forfar, July, 1793.... R.Brown in company with George Don." This does not tally with Don's remark about "the first and only time;" and it is possible that the species was really collected by Brown and Don in company, in 1791, the date "1793" on Brown's ticket being an accident, due perhaps to having been written long after the date, as the writing ieems to indicate.—H. T. ]