of their fragrant bundles to the inhabitants of that town. Likewise, at the gate of the venerable abbey, women, as well as children, may generally be seen, whilst the lilies are in flower, retailing them to such visitors as wish to bear away a Tintern bouquet. In different places in the same wood, amongst Convallaria majalis, may be gathered chance plants of Polygonatum officinale; but there is great danger of its being eradicated, as it is generally sought to add beauty to the bunches of lilies. Rubia peregrina I found in several places in this wood, and Aquilegia vulgaris is scattered plentifully through all the woods in the neighbourhood. Veronica montana is very common in every wood, and by roadsides. Vaccinium Myrtillus and Berberis vulgaris are likewise to be found. Epilobium angustifolium and Habenaria viridis I saw in one spot only. Euphorbia stricta still flourishes in its original habitat, and Geranium sanguineum covers a rugged rock by the roadside, half a mile on the Tintern side of St. Arvans. A short distance from Tintern Abbey, towards Tintern Parva, I was fortunate enough to discover Eryngium campestre, by the roadside, near a manure-heap; two roots only were growing. I believe it has never before been observed in that locality. The Wye, on both sides, from Tintern to Chepstow, is fringed with the white flowers of Cochlearia officinalis; and the castle walls, at the latter place, are red with the blossoms of Centranthus ruber.

At Chepstow I left the Wye, and crossed the water to Clifton. On St. Vincent's Rocks, I gathered Ophrys muscifera, O. arachnites, O. apifera, Hippocrepis comosa, Chlora perfoliata, Arabis stricta (one specimen only), and Helianthemum polifolium. The last-named plant, I believe, has never been seen in this situation before; Brean Downs (Somersetshire), and Torquay and Babbicombe (Devonshire), being the only recorded habitats for it. On the Clifton Downs, at the top of St. Vincent's Rocks, grew Rubia peregrina, Spiræa Filipendula, and Geranium rotundifolium; and, about a mile from the Downs, I found one plant of the Meconopsis Cambrica. I looked carefully in every direction, but could find no more.

Numbers of other plants were, of course, growing on all sides; but the above I noticed, as the more uncommon ones.

44, High Street, Worcester,

August 4, 1853.

T. W. GISSING.

Notice of Equisetum fluviatile, Fries, in Britain; and an Inquiry into its Distinctness as a Species. By JOHN G. BAKER, Esq.

6

DURING the earlier part of the current season, an Equisetum, somewhat intermediate in habit between limosum and palustre, attracted my attention, in a growing state, in this neighbourhood; which, I supposed, might be the plant described by Fries as the Equisetum fluviatile of Linneus, and introduced to the notice of British botanists, in the second edition of Babington's Manual,' as having some slight claim to be considered a native of this country. Not possessing the means of arriving at a satisfactory decision upon this point, I forwarded a series of specimens of the Yorkshire plant to Mr. C. C. Babington, who, by comparing them with the examples and descriptions published in illustration of E. limosum and E. fluviatile, by Fries, in the Herbarium Normale Suecicæ,'* established its identity with the E. fluviatile of Scandinavian botanists, which he has also received from other localities in England and Scotland.

So far as they have come under my observation, the two supposed species, as they appear in this country, may be thus described :

Equisetum fluviatile, Fries. Rhizome creeping extensively, closely sheathed, darker coloured than the stem, with numerous bundles of slender, black, fibrous roots issuing from its nodes, and from those of the lower part of the stem.

Stem 3-4 feet high, 2-3 lines thick at its broadest part, fragile, usually more or less branched, rarely simple, erect or somewhat procumbent below, or curved above, round or slightly compressed, with 14-18 parallel striæ, divided transversely by numerous closely sheathed articulations, purplish brown and smooth to wards its roots, below the sheaths, especially when submerged, light

Equisetum limosum, Fries.

Rhizome creeping extensively, closely sheathed, darker coloured than the stem, with numerous bundles of slender, black, fibrous roots issuing from its nodes, and from those of the lower part of the stem.

Stem 2-3 feet high, 2-3 lines thick at its broadest part, fragile, usually simple frequently more or less branched, erect or somewhat procumbent below, round or slightly compressed, with 14-18 parallel striæ, divided transversely by numerous closely sheathed articulations, purplish brown towards its roots, below the sheaths, especially when submerged, light-green above, when growing quite green,

*Herb. Norm. Suec. fasc. xi. Nos. 97, 98.

*For convenience of comparison, I subjoin the notes of Fries, accompanying his illustrative specimens in Herb. Norm. 1. c., kindly furnished to me by Mr. Babing

The two species are almost precisely alike in their localities and mode of growth. The branched rhizomes, with their matted fibrous roots, creep extensively amongst the mud at the bottom of pools, canals, and slow streams: from these, in the spring, arise a miniature forest of stems, expanding and fructifying as the summer advances, and dying down in the autumn. In habit, E. fluviatile is more slender and elongated; E. limosum, stouter and more rigid in texture. E. fluviatile, both in a barren and fertile state, is usually furnished with numerous long, slender branches, which, in the fully developed and characteristic form, are arranged in lax, irregular whorls, spreading from the stem at a considerable angle; naked stems being nearly as unfrequent as in E. palustre. E. limosum is frequently, or usually entirely, without branches; when present, they are not nearly so numerous as in the other species, and seldom much exceed the internodes in length: the whorls are consequently less dense, but are more regular, and the branches which compose them only curve slightly at the base, and run upwards almost parallel with the stem. Below the whorls, in E. fluviatile, are frequently placed solitary, elongated, lateral branches, which attain a considerable length, and have the internodes conspicuously developed. In the compound form of E. limosum, solitary branches are less frequent, and, when present, they are short and blunt compared with those of E. fluviatile, and the sheaths approximate closely. The barren stem of E. fluviatile is terminated by a long, slender, cord-like extension, entirely without branches, which withers and decays whilst the remainder is still green and vigorous. In E. limosum the termination is stronger, and narrows more gradually: when branches are present, they extend upwards higher than in the other species. It was once thought that the differences between grooveless acute, and sulcate blunt ribs, which are conspicuous when the plants are in a dried state, might furnish a distinctive character; but each species varies considerably in this respect. The sheaths at the base of the branches, in both, are similar in shape; but, whilst in E. limosum they do not usually differ much in colour from the stem, except at the point of their teeth, in E. fluviatile they are invariably coloured

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Equisetum fluviatile, L.! Caules toti striati raro nudi, semper heterocladi ramis numerosissimis, laxis, cauda sterili longa laxa fragile terminati. Spica tenuis æstivalis.” “E. limosum, L.! Apud nos in prius vix transit: caules ex magna parte in vivo lævissimi! simplissimi vel homocladi, ramis polygonis arrectis, apice æquales et conformes. Spica crassa atra vernalis."

throughout. The spike of E. limosum is thick, black, and spongy, as is well represented in Newman's figure,* and is usually sessile, the uppermost sheath clasping it like an involucre. It expands earlier in the season than that of E. fluviatile, which is smaller in size, more slender and graceful, lighter in colour, and usually elevated from its sheath upon a fragile stalk. In order to afford a more precise idea of the habit and dimensions of E. fluviatile than can be conveyed in a general description, I have selected, for purpose of illustration, from a bundle of specimens collected in this neighbourhood, four average stems, which may convey some idea of its leading and most frequent states of variation.

A is a barren stem, measuring fifty inches in length, and, at its broadest portion, when pressed flat, three lines in breadth. It is curved considerably towards the summit, and tapers gradually, the thirtieth internode being exactly half the width of the twelfth. It has forty-one joints, the spaces between which, in its three lowermost quarters, vary in length from one inch to one and a half. All the nodes from the first to the fifteenth inclusive are branchless; the sixteenth has one branch, seven inches in length, with twelve joints; the seventeenth, one; the eighteenth and nineteenth, two each; the twentieth, one; the twenty-first, none; the twenty-second, two; but the remainder are branchless: in all, nine branches, of which the shortest is four inches in length.

B is a barren stem, forty-one inches in length, rather more slender than in the last. It has thirty-six nodes above those from which the roots issue. From the thirteenth of these issues a branch, five inches and a half in length; the fourteenth is branchless; the fifteenth has three branches; the sixteenth, six; the seventeenth, ten; the eighteenth, nine; the nineteenth, two; the remainder are branchless : total, thirty-one branches.

C is a barren stem, fifty inches in length, equalling the first in breadth. It has forty nodes above those from which the roots issue. Of these, the first to the thirteenth inclusive are branchless; the fourteenth has a single slender branch; the fifteenth, one; the sixteenth, eleven; the seventeenth and eighteenth, fourteen each; the nineteenth, twelve; the twentieth, thirteen; the twenty-first, seventeen ; the twenty-second, fourteen; the twenty-third, eight; the twentyfourth, four; the remainder are branchless : total number of branches, one hundred and nine, averaging two inches and a half in length.