OF THE GENUS SYMPHYTUM. 519 
of the radical leaves—4 in. long—although one of the lower leaves in the 
Dorpat speeimen measures about 9 in. in length; and the colour of the 
flowers, which, not having seen them in the fresh state, he gives as 
*purpurz ?” These discrepancies, together with the other difficulties which 
J have mentioned, have served to perplex botanists, and it is not surprising 
that they should have hesitated to accept the naturalised plant as a true 
species, or as that described by Ledebour, but that they should have looked 
upon it as a variable hybrid between %. asperum and S. officinale, or as 
a cultivated form of one of these species. 
About the year 1861 S. peregrinum began to attract attention as a 
naturalised plant in England, and was then and for some years after variously 
named S. asperrimum, S. officinale var. patens, and S. uplandicum, Nym. 
In the * Report of the Botanicai Exchange Club? for 1877-8, Mr. J. G. 
Baker suggested the name of 5. peregrinum, Ledeb., with the remark that 
it is perhaps “a garden hybrid between S. asperum and S. officinale, which 
is most likely ©. peregrinum, Ledeb.” Then Boissier in the ‘Flora 
Orientalis, iv. p. 175 (1879) states his opinion that this and also S. echinatum, 
Ledeb., are,“ forme hortenses forsan hybrids." But Sir Joseph Hooker in 
the following vear (Bot. Mag. 1879, t. 0466) quotes Ledebour's description 
and says that he considers that there is no evidence of hybridity, but that he 
regards it as a large form of S. oficinale probably originating from cultivation 
and not from hybridity. In the ‘Journal of Botany, 1880, p. 381, 
Dr. Boswell Syme writes: * It seems to agree better with De Candolle’s 
description of S. Donii than with his or Ledebour’s description of S. pere- 
grinum, as the leaves, especially the upper ones, are shortly decurrent." (See 
note on S. Donii, p. 528.) 
Having studied all available specimens, both living and dried, and carefully 
compared them with, I believe, all the published deseriptions, I am convinced 
that we have Ledebour's plant in Britain, and that it is a true species, which, 
when pure bred, produces fruit abundantly ; that, as I have shown in 
‘Journal of Botany,’ vol. l. (1912) p. 332, when it grows in company with 
S. officinale, it hybridises with it and produces a series of forms which are 
more or less similar to one or other of the parents. One of these, with semi- 
decurrent leaves and blue flowers, which I refer to 5, cwruleum, Petitmengin, 
has been widely distributed by root division, and has occasioned much of 
the difficulty in deciding on the status of this plant. Lastly, there are 
intermediate plants between S. asperum and S. peregrinum, possibly hybrid, 
but more probably the result of difference of climate, soil and situation. 
{ have seen such forms from Kidderminster ; Cliffe Station, West Kent ; 
Sandling Junction, East Kent ; Buckland, Devon ; Colyton, Devon; Black- 
ford Hill, Edinburgh; and Arnside, Westmoreland. Plants from the last 
locality, kindly sent by Mr. E. M. Holmes, were cultivated at Clifton 
