NOTES.—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
291
the disposition of the spikelets in four rows instead of two. Col-
lectors in the neighbourhood of Brightlingsea will be well advised
in looking out for this abnormal state.—(Rev.) A. C. Morris,
M.A., Exbourne Rectory, North Devon.
Scirpus maritimus and Melampyrum arvense in Essex.
—Botanical readers will doubtless remember that, in Gibson's
Flora of Essex, Scirpus maritimus Linn. is recorded for Oldfield
Grange, near Coggeshall, in a pond, "with S. tabernaemontani,"
where it still persists. But, to my surprise, I have only lately
turned it up in a pond at Cressing, at a place known as Lanham's
Green, where there is quite a lot of it. This would be some
three miles south of Holfield Grange. I usually visit this spot
several times in a year, but the probable reason for my not
having seen it before may be that it has not flowered—there
is more water in the pond this year, so that it is more luxuriant.
I have a fresh station for Melampyrum arvense Linn. in Essex,
namely, near Cressing Temple, on the roadside between Witham
and Braintree.—Edwin E. Turner, Grange Hill, Coggeshall,
July 5th, 1914.
The Water Speedwell.—Following continental usage,
British botanists have recently recognised two forms or species
of the plant that appears in the last edition of the London Cata-
logue of British Plants as Veronica anagallis-aquatica, Linn. The
more common plant is Veronica aquatica, Bernh., distinguished
by the flowers being pinkish or white with deep pink stripes,
and with the flower stalks (pedicels) ultimately becoming
widely spreading after fertilisation. The second or less
common plant is what is considered to be the true plant of
Linnaeus—Veronica anagallis, Linn. It is readily known by its
blue flowers, borne on flower stalks that always ascend and never
become divaricate or widely-spreading.
Besides these characters there are other alleged differences
with regard to the form of the capsules, which I have failed
to recognise, but I have noted that V. aquatica is a coarser plant
with larger bracts than V, anagallis. Both species occur in
Essex. I have gathered V. anagallis, Linn., along the Lea above
Broxbourne and on Nazeing Mead, where, also, I have gathered
V. aquatica, Bernh. I send examples for the herbarium of the
Essex Field Club.—C. E. Britton.