Specific Distinctness of P. officinalis and P. angustifolia. 89 



Art. VI. Facts and Opinions in question of the Distinctness, as 

 Species, of certain Plants reputed to be Species, which inhabit 

 Britain. By W. A. Bhomfield, M.D. 



Since the confirmation, by Professor Henslow, of the 

 very startling discovery, that Primula vulgaris, veris, and 

 elatior are all varieties of one and the same plant (III. 406.), 

 it may be allowed to cast a doubt on the specific differences 

 of other vegetable forms in which these discrepancies assume 

 still less the character of permanent distinctions. Such ap- 

 pears to be the case with Pulmonaria officinalis and angusti- 

 folia; two species, if you will, much more obscurely impressed 

 with the marks of separate independent existence than in the 

 instance above alluded to. 



I collected, last season, both in the Isle of Wight and the 

 New Forest, about Lymington, many specimens of each of 

 these presumed species; but, except the greater or less de- 

 gree of narrowness in the leaves, embracing every gradation 

 between the two extremes of sublinear-lanceolate, on the one 

 hand, and of ovate-lanceolate to almost cordate, on the other, 

 I could discover no one decisive character on which to found 

 any good claim for their remaining disunited. It is, indeed, 

 a matter of surprise, that botanists of the first rank should, 

 in their respective descriptions, rest contented with characters 

 so meagre and unsatisfactory as those assigned by them as 

 distinctive of P. officinalis and angustifolia. The latter has 

 hitherto been looked upon as a very rare plant ; but, as far 

 as my own experience goes, it is of nearly equally frequent 

 occurrence in the districts above mentioned, where it grows 

 promiscuously with P. officinalis ; and sometimes borrows so 

 much of the broader features of the latter as to make it a 

 task of some difficulty which title to affix, as my dried spe- 

 cimens can testify. The uncertainty that attaches to their 

 discrimination is farther evinced by the opposite definitions of 

 different authors. Sir J. E. Smith says, P. angustifolia is 

 twice as tall as P. officinalis, and that the limb of the corolla 

 is shorter in the former, with rounded segments ; which I do 

 not find to be the case ; nor can I perceive any difference in 

 the calyx when the seed is formed : but the remark that the 

 narrow-leaved plant is seldom spotted appears to hold true, 

 though only partially correct, as this character is otherwise 

 common to both. Wahlenberg [Flora Suecica) affirms that 

 the two pulmonarias are almost equal in height, and differ 

 only in the narrowness of their leaves : he adds, " Flores 

 quoque simillimi." The root leaves of P. officinalis are 

 cordate ; but are not to be found on the plant at an advanced 



