BOTANY years. The water level of the Pool has been so raised as completely to cover the ground where this humble plant grew, and it is to be feared that it must now be included amongst the extinct species of the county. The occurrence of Trichomanes radicans near Tintagel has been much questioned in botanical circles, but the letter from Mr. Everard F. im Thurn in Nature, 27 April 1871, leaves no reasonable room for doubt that it was really gathered in that locality. A few plants have been included in Cornish lists through miscon- ception. Until stronger evidence than we already possess is forthcoming the following must be accepted with considerable reserve : Thalictrum Kocbii, Heliantbemum marifolium, Geranium syl-vaticum, Rbamnus catbarticus, Trifolium stellatum, Saxifraga ste//aris, Cicuta virosa, CEnantbe Pbellandrium, Galium Cruciata, Gnapbalium luteo-album, Senecio squalidus, Arnoseris pusilla, Hieracium corymbosum, Campanula latifolia, Primula farinosa, Veronica spicata, Melampyrum sy/vaticum, Lathrcea Squamaria, Suceda fruticosa, Damasonium stellatum, Ryncbospora fusca, Asplenlum fontanum, A. septen- trionale, Opbioglossum lusitanicum. Recent investigations have not only added many native species to the flora of the county but have shown that several foreign plants have secured a permanent footing, and will have to be accounted for in future handbooks of the British flora. Erysimum repandum has long been known near Launceston in goodly numbers and occurs more sparingly at Fal- mouth and Penzance. Lepidium virginicum springs up annually at Par and Penzance, and for more than a quarter of a century Rapistrum rugosum has claimed two or three spots at Falmouth. Impatiens Roy lei grows by the thousand in the valley between Liskeard and Looe, and more sparingly though none the less luxuriantly near Tintagel. Aster Novi-Belgii is a striking plant at Looe and Par, where it has long been growing. Matricaria discoidea is perhaps the most astonishing case of an alien becoming a denizen. First appearing at Falmouth less than a decade ago, it has now become a pestiferous weed all over the district, being found in fields and by the roadside in at least half a score of parishes. Mimulus Langsdorffii, M. moscbatus, Omphalodes verna and Pbalaris aquatica are other foreign subjects which have shown adapta- bility to Cornish soil. To say Cornwall possesses more specialities than any other English county is to repeat what most botanists already know. The last county geographically, it is the first botanically. Here Brassica Cbeiranthus, a plant still restricted by the London Catalogue to the Channel Isles, has been flourishing for half a century and more. Here only in Great Britain grow Lavatera sy/vestris, Cytisus scoparius var. prostratus, c Trifolium Molin- erii, T. Bocconi, Ornitbopus ebracteatus, Erica vagans, Echium plantagineum, Pinguicula grandiflora, Herniaria ciliata, "Juncus fygmaus, J. capitatus, Bromus rigidus, Cbara fragifera and Nitella hyalina. With Devon it has shared exclusive possession of Hypericum undu/atum, H. /inartfo/ium, Pyrus cordata, Pbysospermum commutatum, Lobelia urens, Scropbularia Scorodonia, Euphorbia hiberna. Iris tuberosa and Romulea Columns. 51
