ON A NEW KIND OF PHORMIUM. 533 
bach, Fl. Germ. exsice. no. 2104. (Agropyrum) Kunth, Enum. 
1. Pt. 1. p. 448. Triticum alpinum, nov. sp. Don in Herb. 
Borrer. : 
Has. Rocks on Ben Lawers, rare. Mr. G. Don. 
Root fibrous, stems about two feet high. Leaves glabrous and 
quite smooth beneath, the upper side with a few long scattered 
hairs in all the specimens I have seen, rough only very slightly at 
the margins. Spike about three inches long. Valves lanceolate, 
acuminate, about three-nerved; flowers two to four, acuminate, 
shortly awned; awn about one third the length of the palea, or 
often scarcely perceptible. 
The present is one of those plants gathered by the late Mr. G. 
Don, which appear to have been overlooked by other botanists. 
His label in Mr. Borrer’s Herbarium, runs thus: “Triticum alpi- 
num, nova spec.—it differs from the caninum by its short arista 
and upright spikes, and from the repens by not running at the 
roots.” No date is mentioned. It is thus clearly evident that he 
distinguished it as a new species; the only British Triticum with 
which it can be confounded is 7. caninum, from which it may be 
distinguished by its leaves smooth on both sides, its usually two- 
flowered spikelets, and its want of the long awn; it also appears 
to be a more slender plant with narrower leaves. 
The British species of Zritieum are undoubtedly difficult plants. 
T biflorum I found in Mr. Borrrer’s Herbarium, when examining 
his specimens with a view to prove 7. acutum a Sussex plant. In 
this, I believe, I have succeeded ; but as I did not observe it in a 
living state, until too late to obtain entire specimens, I shall re- 
serve any remarks upon it for future occasion. 
On a new kind of Puormium, or New Zealand Flax; by M. 
Aveuste Le Jours. 
A very curious kind of Phormium, hitherto unknown in the 
gardens of Europe, blossomed last summer at Cherbourg for the 
first time. This red- and green-flowered plant, brought directly 
from New Zealand, where it was gathered in August, 1839, in 
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