400 ME. F. TOWNSEND ON AN ERYTHEMA 



Willdenow's herbarium, and sent to Schultes many observations 

 and notes on 'Keliquise Willdenowianae.' Koemer and Schultes 

 are therefore hardly correct in writing " Herb. "Willd.," as they 

 do in their notice of the plant in their ' Syst. Veg.' Dr. Ascherson 

 also thinks it nearly certain that Schlechtendal pater was the 

 author of the longer description given by Eoemer and Schultes, 

 which is as follows :— " Caulis 2 poll., simplex, basi dense tectus 

 foliis obovatis lanceolatis. . . foliis binis ternisve cincto. Bractea? 

 lineares acuta?, floribus intermixtse. Calycis lacinia) acuta? longitu- 

 dine tubi. Corolla Centaurei sed laciniae acutiores, angustiores. 

 Caulis ssepe in superiore parte, immo adipsum capitulum, ramum 

 unum alterumve emittit nudiusculum capitulo terminatum ut 

 planta prolifera videatur."— B. Sf S., Syst. Veg. vol. iv. p. 78(5 (1819) 

 From want of access to specimens since Willdenow's time, 

 subsequent authors have unfortunately confounded his E. eapitata 

 with a capitate variety of E. Centaurium. In no instance, in any 

 of the extracts I am about to give, are distinctive characters given 

 by which either Willdenow's plant or that from Freshwater (both 

 of which I refer to one and the same species) can be distinguished 

 from a very different plant, viz. a capitate variety of E. Centau- 

 rium. It is certain that some of the extracts refer only to the 

 latter variety. 



"E. Centaurium variat fi. eapitata corymbo etiam post an- 



thesin compacto, nee elongato : E. eapitata, B. et S. Syst Ye^ i v 



163, D. ft. 2, p. 132. In Westph. u. Brandenb."— Koeh, s/nop' 



ed. 2, p. 566. "E. Centaurium . . . . y . eapitata caule abbreviate 



corymbo capitulo-contracto : E. eapitata, Cham "—Bluff $r 



Fingerhuth, ed. 2, vol. i. p. 391*. «E. Centaurium . . . . aut caule 



abbreviate floribus dense capitatis : E. eapitata, Chamiss "— 



Beieh. Fl. exc. p. 433. " Specimina suecica [of E. Centaurium-] 



ad illam formam, quae E. eapitata, Ecem. & Schult. iv p 108 



pertinent."-^™*, Noviti*. ed. 2, p. 72. "JSrythrata Centaurium, 



/3. eapitata (E. & S.) fascieulata, Selm." : « FJ. nombreuses re'unies 



en corymbe serre, compacte meme apres la fleuraison. Coteaux 



maritimes: Granville, Cherbourg, Carteret. "-Brebisson Fl de 



Normandie, ed. 4, p. 201. «E. Centaurii forma abbreviata, E. 



latifoha subsimilis, at pecorum dentibus orta."— Grisebaeh, Gen- 



* The author quotes G, L. E. Schmidt's work entitled ' De Ervthiwa Di«r- 



tatio inaugural*,' in which E. eapitata, Cham., is given as one of nine named 



vanet.es of E. Centaurium. Five of the varieties are figured, but E eapitata is 



not one of the number. 



