` CHARACTERS OF BRITISH PLANTS. 67 
as an invariable distinction, because I find plants growing 
intermixed, and otherwise closely alike, though some have 
herbaceous bracts, while others have them half-membranous. 
Moreover, in other species of this genus the proportion of 
membrane in the bracts and sepals is very variable. Exclud- 
ing C. pedunculatum, the Manual has four species where the 
British Flora has two only; namely, C. semidecandrum and 
C. tetrandrum. I must confess a decided preference for the 
views of the British Flora here, though without feeling quite 
satisfied that even these two are permanently distinct in 
nature. At the same time, it is not without some hesitation 
that I thus venture to oppose the opinion of a superior bota- 
nist who has closely studied the species of this difficult 
genus, 
Cerastium alpinum (Linn.) and C. latifolium (Linn.) In his 
Catalogue of Pyrenean Plants, Mr. Bentham reduced the 
C. latifolium of English authors to a variety of C. alpinum, 
under the name of *piloso-pubescens." The same view is 
repeated in the Phytologist (page 497) by Mr. Edmonston, a 
young Shetland botanist, who finds a plant in the Shetland 
Isles which he supposes to be the true C. latifolium of 
Linneeus, and distinct from the Highland plant so named 
in the British Flora. These opinions are adopted in the 
Manual. ] am sorry here again to find myself in opposition 
to the acute author of the latter work. Of three specimens 
in the Linnean herbarium, labelled C. latifolium in the 
handwriting of Linneus, two appear to my eyes undoubtedly 
the same as the plants of Ben Lawers and other Highland 
mountains. In the Phytologist (Part 2, page 586 and Part 
3, page 717): my reasons for rejecting the views of Mr. 
Edmonston are given more fully ; but I may here add a cau- 
tion, that the characters assigned by myself to the seeds will 
require verification ; a suspicion having arisen that the names. 
of the two species had been accidentally transferred on the 
packets of seeds. If this error occurred, the character of 
rough (almost muricate) seeds will helong to C. alpinum, not 
to C. latifolium. 
