Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 9 (1871).djvu/402

 374 SHORT NOTES AND QUERIES.

done, and tlie belief of this may save a needless panic and nncallcd-for rise in the price of corn. — J. Boswell Syme.

��Tmpatiens fulva in Kent. — I am not aware that Imjmtlens f/ilva has ever been recorded for the above comity, so it may be worth while noting that it is, and has been for at least eight years, extremely abun- dant on both sides of the little river Ravensbourne, near Lower Syden- ham. I have more than once walked along the stream for a considerable distance without losing sight of the plant. — James Britten.

��Flora of Marlborough. — The following plants may be added to the list of additions given in ' Journal of Botany,' Vol. VIII. p. 324 : —

Diplotaxis muralis ! j Arctium minns !

Nasturtium amphibium ! Lactuca virosa !

Thlaspi perfoliatum ! (Savernake.) [ Vacciniura Myrtillus

Spergularia rubra !

Geranium pyrenaicum !

Melilotns vulgaris !

Orobus tuberosus, /3. tenuifolius !

Rosa arvensis, var, bibi'acteata !

Prunus Avium !

Rubus Lejeunii {Jide Babington).

Epilobiura obscurum !

Hieracium sylvaticum !

Senecio sylvaticus !

Bideas cernua !

��Chlora perfoliata ! Lysimachia vulgaris ! Digitalis purpurea ! Nepeta (Jataria ! Lamium incisum ! ScntelLu'ia minor! Allium vineale, /3. compactum ! Lemna trisulca ! Carex fulva !

Alopecurns fulvus ! (Swindon Re- servoir.)

��Specimens of each have come under my notice while looking through a portion of the herbarium of the Marlborougli College Natural History Society; Camelina satlva maybe added to the list of casuals. — James Britten.

��Winter Fertilization. — In the first number of ' Nature' (for Nov. 4th, 1869), I ventured a hypothesis, founded on a series of observations, that plants which flower in the winter have their reproductive organs specially arranged to promote self-fertilization. The following fact seems to confirm this theory : — I recently came upon a late-flowering patch of Sldluria aqiiatica, Scop., on which the following observations were made on two separate occasions, Oct. 21st and 28th. Plants belonging to the Order CaryopJiyllacece are, as a rule, so strongly protandrous (see my paper in the ' Journal of Botany' for October, 1870), that cross-fertiliza- tion is almost essential. In the present instance, however, I found in almost all the open flowers, of which there were a considerable number, the anthers discharging their pollen at the time when the stigma was receptive, the stigraatic surfaces being brought into immediate contact with the dehiscing anthers in a singular manner. Of the ten stamens five are opposite the petals, while five spring from interpetalar glands. The former rested nearly horizontally on the petals ; the latter, structurally the

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