382 MB. F. 0. S. EOPEE ON BANUNCTJLITS LINGUA. 



1875 ; Breb. Fl. de la Norm. ed. 4 (1869) ; and Hook. Stud. Fl. 

 ed. 1 to 3, 1870-1884. 



Mr. Bentham, in Br. Fl. eds. 1 and 2, also states that the 

 leaves, that is the long lanceolate leaves, to which alone he 

 alludes, are " glabrous, with a few nearly parallel veins ; " and 

 Sir J. Hooker, in Stud. Fl. eds. 1 to 3, states that the plant is 

 " glabrous," and that the leaves have " veins parallel and reticu- 

 lated." These descriptions are not exactly correct, as both the 

 aerial leaves and stem are in most cases densely covered with 

 stiff adpressed hairs, at all events in my Sussex specimens ; and 

 the veins, instead of being parallel, are given off at various points 

 of the mid-rib, and again anastomose at the tip of the leaf with 

 the main central vein. They are, however, more or less reticu- 

 lated both in the submerged and aerial leaves, but much more so 

 in the former than in the latter. We thus see that in such 

 standard books as Hook. Br. Flora, G-ren. et Godr. Fl. de France, 

 Koch Fl. Germ., Benth. Br. FL, Hook. Stud. FL, and Bab. Man. 

 up to the 7th edit. (1874), no notice whatever is taken of the sub- 

 merged leaves, nor would any one be able to recognize the plant 

 if collected before the flowering-stems have appeared. 



Of the seven authors who refer to the submerged leaves of 

 It. Lingua, two are of old date, namely — Parkinson, who in his 

 Theat. Botan. (1640), says of "JR. palustris flammeus major": — 

 " The Greater Marsh Spearwort hath a long joynted root, whence 

 riseth up a thick joynted smooth stalke, two foot high, furnished 

 with large and long shining and smooth thinner leaves, than in 

 the next (It. Flammula), some being more than half a foote long 

 and two to three inches broad, but smaller up to the toppe ;" 

 and Bauhin, in his ' Pinax,' 1623, under It. longifolius palustris 

 major, says, " Folia prima aliquando sub rotunda sunt." 



There can be little doubt that these descriptions refer to the 

 early submerged leaves, and not to the lanceolate leaves of the 

 flowering-stem. The best and most correct description is that by 

 Dr. Bromfield in his FL Vectensis (1856), who says, referring to 

 the flowering-stem, " Leaves linear-lanceolate, erect, clasping the 

 stem, thick, smooth or sometimes slightly hairy beneath, their edges 

 with distant, very narrow serratures ; " and he then proceeds to 

 say : — " The earlier primordial submerged leaves are very large, 

 ovate-oblong, obtuse, cordate at the base, slightly undulate crenate 

 along the margins, on very long semiterete, somewhat hairy, 

 sheathing petioles, obscurely and reticulately veined, remaining 



