vi
Journal of Proceedings.
care. I should be very glad if some scientific gentlemen would go over
the ground and examine it thoroughly, for I think it extremely probable
that highly interesting discoveries might be made." *
Mr. R.. M. Christy sent up for exhibition some specimens of the true
"Bardfield oxlip" (Primula elatior, Jacq.) from Pounce Hall Wood
Saffron Walden, and also some specimens of the form which is commonly
mistaken for the Bardfield oxlip, but which Mr. Christy considered to be
a hybrid between the common primrose and the cowslip.
[Prof. Boulger entered into some very interesting details respecting these
specimens, but, as Mr. Christy is preparing an exhaustive paper on the
Essex forms of Primula, it will be best to reserve any remarks until after
the publication of that essay.—Ed.]
The Secretary read two notes by Mr. John Gibbs, of Chelmsford. The
first treated of those inflorescences that are definite, but in which the
order of expansion is not strictly centrifugal:—
" In the report of your country ramble on the 1st of August last, I find
that the teasels were noticed as illustrating the artificial nature of the
classification of inflorescences into centrifugal and centripetal, from which
I think it likely that some interest will attach to the appended list of
genera in which I have observed inflorescences that are unquestionably
definite (that is, having a central flower terminating the floral axis), but
the order of expansion is not strictly centrifugal:—Clematis, Caltha,
Aquilegia, Acer, Dianthus, Rubus, Pyrus, Cornus, Viburnum, Sambucus,
Campanula, Syringa, Ligustrum, Medinella, Mercurialis, Luzula.
" Owing to the limited nature of the sphere of my observations the list
is not long, but, including as it does representatives of several Natural
Orders, it may be very much extended. The exotic genus Medinella
I have only seen once in a conservatory, where its flowers might have been
affected by changed conditions."
The second note treated of the inflorescence of Vinca, and of the seed-
lings of Ranunculus ficaria :—
" On several occasions within the last twenty years I have attempted to
call the attention of botanists to the inflorescence of Vinca minor, which
is commonly supposed to le indefinite, but which I have no hesitation in
describing as definite and centrifugal like that of Stellaria media, or some
species of Silene : only that the leaves are more fully developed on the
subterminal blanch, which, springing from the axil of one of the upper-
most leaves below the flower, is prolonged beyond it so as to throw the
flower on the other side, and make it seem axillary. In ordinary cases
the only indication of this character is found in the strictly unilateral
* From Morant's 'History and Antiquities of Essex' we take the following:—"The
Maner of Wallbury. This place was so named from its situation on the old Roman
vallum, i. e., fortification, or camp, which terminates in a precipice above the Stort. It
comprehends about 30 acres, double ditched, very little defaced. The precipice on the
north has some additional work on the brow of the hill; the other three sides seem to be
in their original state. One side of the ditch is on the meadow opposite to Sawbridg-
worth. 'Tis well nigh a mile in circumference, not four square, but rather sexangular."
Vol. ii. 514. See also Gough's 'Camden,' ii. 63, and Wright's 'Histoiy of Essex,' ii.
828-4—ED.