MR. F. N. WILLIAMS ON THE GENUS DIANTHUS. 4G5 



phylla involucri elliptica, exteriora inucronata, interiora obtusa 

 punctulata longiora ferruginea, flores occultantia. Flores parvi 

 inodori breviter pedicellati. Bracteae 2 straminea) patentes 

 calycis tubum sequantes, obovate vel obovato-lanceolatre. Calyx 

 gracilis, dentibus lanceolato-obovatis membranaceis. Petala 

 contigua ; lamina obovata, carneo-lilacina, = 3 unguis. Anthene 

 ellipticae, purpurea. Semina granulata. 



a. typicus (cf. Reichb. Ic. Fl. Germ. Uelv. f. 5009). 



b. nanus, Godr. Fl. de Lorraine, ed. II. (1801) i. p. 105. 



c. scabrifolius, Clav. Fl. de la Gironde, p. 156 (1882). 



d. laevis, Clav. loc. cit. 



Geogr. limits.— N. SkSne, in Sweden, 60°. 



S. Canary Isles, 30°. 

 F. Baku, on the Caspian Sea, 50°. 

 TV. Madeira, 17°. 



In the ' Flora Berolinensis ' the genus Kolilrauscliia was 

 founded upon this species, and the following points of generic 

 distinction were relied upon by Kunth for its separation from 

 the Linnean genus : — " Flores capitato-congesti rarissime solitarii 

 sessiles involucro universali scarioso cincti. Bracteee 2 scariosse 

 convolute. Calyx pentagono-tubulosus 15-costatus, inter 

 angulos fere omnino scarioso-membranaceus, apice attenuato. 

 Corolla car} ophyllacea ; petala retusa lamina suberecta ungue 

 longa lineolataque. Capsula maturescens lateraliter fissus 

 usque ad basin, oblongo-fusiformis." 



Seguier's figure wrongly depicts the bracts as acute; in living 

 specimens they are most distinctly mucronate, like the involucral 

 leaves, which consist usually of three pairs inclosing the flower- 

 head. There is no perennial rootstock, or barren leafy shoots ; ' 

 and each stem or fork terminates in a small ovate-fusiform 

 head of flowers. Dr. Boswell-Syme, in the third edition of 

 1 English Botany,' says that in all the specimens he had an oppor- 

 tunity of dissecting he was able to find only one bract to the 

 calyx, — but they may not have been perfect specimens. 



The Linnean D. diminutus is sometimes given as a variety of 

 this species, and is sometimes placed after it as specifically 

 distinct. It may be as well once and for all to say, as Koch 

 indicates, that the description is based upon an error of obser- 

 vation, and no such plant exists. There is no specimen with 

 this name in the herbarium of Linnseus. 



