Mr. C. C. Babington on some species o/Epilobium. 243 



My British specimens of E. obscurum are from Wyken, War- 

 wickshire; Ilfracombe, Devon; Llanthony, Monmouthshire; 

 and Sussex ; and I am informed by Mr. Borrer that it is found 

 in Herefordshire by Mr. Purchas. 



There is something in the look of this plant that distinguishes 

 it from E. tetragonum. Tangible characters are afforded by the 

 leaves. If well-grown specimens of the two plants are con- 

 trastedj the difference in the shape of those organs will be found 

 to be rather considerable. The leaf of E, tetragonum is very 

 well described as strap-shaped, for its sides are nearly parallel 

 throughout the greater part of their length, the widest part 

 being placed at about their middle. In E. obscurum the inter- 

 mediate leaves are sessile, but apparently not at all decurrent by 

 their limb (as is the case in its ally), although there is a slight 

 appearance of decurrence from the sides of the rudimentary 

 petiole ; they are broadest close to their rounded base, and taper 

 gradually from thence to their tip. Their teeth are much less 

 conspicuous and much more distant from each other than those 

 of E. tetragonum, and there are sometimes a few intermediate 

 much smaller denticulations. The lowest leaves are usually 

 shortly stalked and more oval than the others; and, in rare 

 cases, many of the leaves possess this oval form and are slightly 

 stalked, only those upon the upper part of the specimen having 

 the true form belonging to the species. The leaves of E. tetra- 

 gonum are always shining, those of E. obscurum opake, except- 

 ing on the stoles. The capsules of E. tetragonum are remarkably 

 longer than those of its ally, and afford, as Mr. Borrer observes, 

 a '^ striking primd-facie distinction in the living plants.^' The 

 stoles of E. tetragonum have their leaves all closely placed so as 

 to form a subsessile rosette ; those of E. obscurum have long 

 joints, and therefore a rosette is not formed, although the [eaves 

 successively become larger. In very dry places, E. obscurum 

 forms a kind of loose rosette at the end of a short stole. From 

 the large size of the leaves at the end of the stoles of E. obscurum, 

 they may sometimes be carelessly mistaken for a rosette. 



E. obscurum is incompletely figured by Eeichenbach (Iconog. 

 t. 199), and represented by the specimen (No. 358) of his ' Flora 

 exsiccata.' Unfortunately that specimen had not produced its 

 stoles at the time when it was gathered ; and as the plant drawn 

 by Reichenbach was obtained from Leipzig, and Schreber's 

 ' Spicilegium Fl. Lipsise' is the original authority for the name, 

 there is the more reason to deplore the fact that so imperfect an 

 illustration is given. In the text of the ' Iconographia,' Reichen- 

 bach quotes the E. virgatum (Fries, Fl. Hall. 66) as an un- 

 doubted synonym of E. obscurum, and the remarks already made 

 will show that in my opinion he is correct in quoting it ; but 



16* 



