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282<br />

SHOET NOTES.<br />

Aeabis albida naturalised in Derbyshire.—On the 5th inst. I<br />

was much surprised to meet with Arabis albida Stev. in great<br />

quantity on the northern face of a hmestone rock at Matlock Bath.<br />

The site is opposite the High Tor. The rock rises from a quarry<br />

and stretches upwards to the Heights of Abraham. The phant is<br />

plentiful in gardens in and about Matlock ; but there is no house or<br />

garden near to the cliff on which it has made its home. None of<br />

the plants showed blossoms, though most of them had ripened and<br />

shed their seeds. The habitat is like a natural one, but of course<br />

it is only an accidental case of naturalisation.—W. M. Hind.<br />

Ranunculus ophioglossifolius in East Gloucestershire. —<br />

specimen of this very rare plant was recently sent me by Mrs.<br />

Francis Fawkes, who informed me that she found it in a small<br />

marshy piece of ground of very restricted area. About a dozen<br />

plants were seen. For obvious reasons she does not wish the<br />

exact locality disclosed, but hopes before long to send me a further<br />

specimen- for the British Herbarium in the Natural History Museum<br />

at South Kensington. Frederick J. Hanbury.<br />

Flora of Suffolk. — The Herbarium of Suffolk plants, spe-<br />

cially collected for the preparation of Eev. Dr. Hind's recent ' Flora,'<br />

has been presented by him to the Ipswich Museum.<br />

Arenaria gothica Fries.—This plant was on the 18th August<br />

collected in another West Yorkshire locality by Dr. Silvanus P.<br />

Thompson and his sister Miss R. F. Thompson. Dr. Thompson<br />

had, in the course of a walk a few days before, noticed what he<br />

thought looked like A. gothica, and on the 18th he went to the spot<br />

again with Miss Thompson, who at once recognised the characters<br />

of the Ribblehead plant. The new locality is three miles distant<br />

from Ribblehead, and away from any railway. I cannot at present<br />

report more. There is now a hope, at any rate, that the plant is<br />

indigenous to Yorkshire. Its presence at Ribblehead was certainly<br />

inconclusive, particularly as several attempts have been vainly<br />

made this year to discover it in the district surrounding the<br />

station, and about the quarry whence the road-metal used in the<br />

station yard was brought. I regret to add that the A. gothica is<br />

already in danger of extinction at Ribblehead. When Mr. F. Arnold<br />

Lees visited the spot in September, 1889, there were "hundreds" of<br />

plants. "Dozens of collectors have been there this year," the<br />

Ribblehead peeple say, and the result is that the very existence of<br />

the species is threatened. Is it too much to ask that a " close<br />

time" of at least two seasons be accorded to it ? I appeal to the<br />

honour of botanists. A. gothica has, in its Yorkshire form, been<br />

proved undoubtedly perennial. Plants grown by me (transplanted<br />

from Ribblehead) put forth winter shoots lilce those of garden<br />

pinks, or SaxiJ'raga hgpnoides. Winter and spring specimens sent<br />

to me bore the same, and plants flowering in April still showed the<br />

empty capsules of the previous year. William Whitwell.

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