SOME CRITICAL SPECIES OF ECHIUM. 411 
Flores in cincinnis sieut in congeneribus dispositi, in ramis inferioribus 
magis, in superioribus minus conferti ; bracteis lanceolatis, basi latio- 
ribus quam in Æ. italico, calycem (laciniis inclusis) usque ad 10 mm. 
longum parum superantibus. 
Corolla parvae, tubo leviter geniculato (‘tube coudé,” Lap.), minus quam 
in X. italico regulares, et paululum quam in eo longiores (15-18 mm.) 
extus pilosissiinæ, pilis albis strigosis longioribus quam in Æ. italico, 
carne *, filamentis pulcherrime rubris (etiam in sieco fusco-rubris), 
antheris eseruleis. Stamina exserta, sed multo minus quam in Æ. italico. 
Folia radicalia angustissime elliptica potius quam lanceolata (20 x 4 cm., 
15 x 3°5 cm., 10 x 2 em.), ideoque forma ab illis Æ. italici nonnihil diversa. 
Indumentum asperrimum, tactu urens, minus quam in Æ. étalico confertum, 
e pilis albis non lutescentibus (ideoque tota herba etiam in sicco grisea), 
valde insequalibus, nonnullis apice stellatis. 
As exsiccata only consisting of branches torn off, or, if entire, of 
exceptionally small inviduals, do not give an adequate idea of the normal 
habit of this very large species, I add a note made on the spot from four 
Apulian specimens gathered in late autumn, in seed, by the roadside near 
Taranto, where the species is very abundant. The two larger are one metre 
high and 70 em. broad; the two smaller measure 65 by 55 cm. The larger 
plants have from 20 to 30 branches, spreading in every direction, erecto- 
patent in the larger, horizontal in the smaller specimens, the lowest branches 
being as much as 50cm. long. Each of the longer branches bears 10 to 20 
scattered branchlets, pointing in every direction. Of these branchlets the 
lower are again branched into 5 to 10 subunilateral cincinni, with their 
distichous flowers on the upper surface, but the upper branchlets consist of 
single cincinni. These cincinni are nearly all simple, only occasionally 
bifid. Even the most developed only bear about 10 flowers, forming at first 
tight glomerules, but lengthening later to about 10 em. The fruiting 
calyces overlap each other, each covering about half the calyx next above. 
Bracts and calyx-segments are lanceolate and very hispid. The fruiting 
calyx is not enlarged nor concrete at the base. The plant is everywhere 
hispid with white, spreading, stinging sete that give the whole a pale grey 
appearance in autumn. 
The root-leaves of the young plants first appear in November. Their 
surface is dark green and almost hairless in the intervals between the 
incipient tubercles, which show as lighter green pustules bearing hardly 
any hairs. When radical leaves are present in herbarium specimens they 
are obviously broader and shorter than in italicum, more tuberculate and less 
* I am not sure that albinos of pyrenaicum may not occur occasionally, just as they do in 
E. vulgare and E. plantagineum. This, or hybridity, may account for the very few 
examples I have seen—all from France, where both species are found—that are not at a 
glance referable to italicum or to pyrenaicum. 
LINN. JOURN,—BOTANY, VOL. XLIV, 9M 
