346 The Scottish Naturalist. 



flowered. I think that they are the true radicans, although, like 

 you, I have had (and still have) some little doubt. It may be 

 that radicans is not different from palustris minor. But that ijs 

 a mountain plant. The leaves of your plant are very peculiar." 

 Having observed that our plant had spreading carpels, while the 

 minor is described as having its carpels erect, I requested Mr 

 Babington to examine the carpels of his plant. He replied that 

 it had not produced carpels, and on my sending him matured 

 fruits upon their stalks, he writes : "There can be no doubt of 

 the spreading character of these fruits, which you have so kindly 

 sent. If the description of the fruit of C. minor is correct, there 

 can be no question of these not being like them. I see this is 

 a rooting plant, and so is in all probability the C. radicans of all 

 authors." 



Having studied leaf-character more than any other point, and 

 with little satisfaction, I was still very far from being convinced, — 

 thinking the plant rather an extreme form than a separate species. 

 I had found it quite impossible to draw a definite line anywhere 

 in regard to the leaf. For example, the serration of the margin 

 cannot be relied on as a character of one plant only. I have 

 frequently seen very acute serration in a coarse palustris. 

 Dependent I think upon situation, the leaf of palustris is ex- 

 tremely variable. In regard to the flower, it is difficult to say 

 sometimes whether the sepals ought to be regarded as contigu- 

 ous or not ; and the narrowness of the sepal, as a character for 

 radicans, is equally troublesome. As to rooting, my experience 

 is that all Calthce root at one joint at any rate, if not prevented 

 by competing vegetation. 



In the presence of so much teasing variation, it is a very 

 remarkable fact that the cultivated plant — that at Kew, for 

 example, one of Don's undoubted specimens — has retained its 

 characters unchanged by ninety years of cultivation. Failing 

 distinctly permanent character, one would have expected such 

 cultivation to have thrown out, or modified something. But 

 this I am assured is not the case. 



The Rescobie plant roots at all, or nearly all, the joints. The 

 flower - stalks seek the ground from the first, and before being 

 loaded by the heavy fruit. The radical leaf, and the first at 

 each node, are triangular, and " the base of the leaf is nearly 

 at right angles with the petiole." The outline of the other 

 leaves forms a curvilinear triangle, the two upper sides being 

 convex, and the base concave, or from that to cordate. If 



