74 MADEIRAN SPECIES OF RANUNCULUS, 



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cut and toothed root-leaves, the close-pressed, however copious, hoary 

 or silky pubescence of the stem, and smooth achseuia, remain to mark 

 it ; and whilst it is certain that /J is a mere form of a, it is equally cer- 

 tain that it is not one caused by a drier soil and climate, such as that 

 of Crete, but the reverse. Let it be noted well, that even the smaller, 

 more villose states of /3, which most seem to approximate towards R. 

 Creticus, L., are from much moister situations than those in which a 

 usually occurs, growing at an altitude of nearly 3000 feet above the 

 sea, on a grassy bank a little below a waterfall of 600-800 feet, at the 

 head of a narrow gorge or ravine of enormous depth, exposed to per- 

 petual spray, and with only five or six hours' sunshine in the height of 

 summer; whilst the other taller form, less hairy perhaps, but with 

 equally divided leaves, is found on the flanks or summit of the lofty 

 Paul da Serra, by streams or in thickets, at an elevation of above 5000 

 feet, bathed in almost continual mist and vapour for at least three- 

 fourths of the year. Thus /3 does not owe in any case its more divided 

 leaves, smaller stature, and greater villosity to a drier soil or climate, 

 for it occurs only in a moister and a colder. And thus, that state of 

 R. grandifolius which appears in form and aspect nearest to the Cretan 

 species, is precisely that which, in the conditions of its place of growth 

 as to humidity, most differs from it. 



If indeed the Madeiran plant were found to increase in resemblance 

 to the Cretan, as it grew in a drier soil or situation, some presumption 

 would be afforded for considering it to be a mere local form of the lat- 

 ter species. But the contrary is the case. I have frequently trans- 

 planted a to my garden at the Valle or the Levada de Santa Luzia, the 

 one about 400, the other about 600 feet above the sea, from Rib. Frio 

 and elsewhere ; and notwithstanding the great comparative deficiency of 

 shade and moisture, they have constantly retained all their peculiar 



characters. 



I have never seen a native genuine specimen of R. grandifolius from 

 any other country than Madeira or the Azores. 



The question of priority between R. grandifolius, Lowe (Prim. ed. 

 1, Nov. 1830), and R. grandifolius, C. A. Meyer in Ledebour's Flora 

 Altaica, vol. ii. 1830, cannot well be settled. The name however has 

 been long very generally associated with the Madeiran plant ; and in 

 the absence of clear proof that it belongs to the other, it seems better 

 to retain it for the same, and to call the Altaic plant R. Meyeri, after 

 its first describer. 



