246 Mr. W. A. Leighton on Epilobium angustifolium. 



XXXI. — On Epilobium angustifolium, Linn., and species 

 which have been confounded with it. By W. A. Leighton, 

 Esq., B.A., F.B.S.E., &c. 



Without wishing to derogate in the most remote degree from 

 the merit of Mr. H. O. Stephens and Mr. G. K. Thwaites as 

 the discriminator and discoverer of Epilobium macrocarpum, 

 I deem it but an act of simple justice to mention, that Mr. 

 George Jorden, of Bew dley, has for very many years past ob- 

 served two Epilobiums growing wild in the Shropshire portion 

 of the Forest of Wyre, which he has always considered as speci- 

 fically distinct ; one, a large-flowered plant with a short stout 

 capsule, and the other with smaller flowers and a very long 

 capsule, which he considers an undescribed species. From the 

 acute and careful observation to which Mr. Jorden has sub- 

 jected these plants in the constant opportunities he has availed 

 himself of in studying their habits and structure in their na- 

 tive localities, his opinion of their being distinct species is en- 

 titled to very considerable weight, more especially as he has con- 

 firmed it by the experience of long cultivation. He writes : — 

 " To me the specification of plants is not very clear and defi- 

 nite : those plants which are distinct in their Generation ought 

 to be considered Specifically distinct, which, I believe, these 

 two plants ever have been and ever will remain, and likewise 

 in their structure, in the greater size of the flowers and seed- 

 vessel. If I rightly understand the true meaning of Variety, 

 it is the differing of a plant from its parent, and such differ- 

 ence not hereditary. Nature will not be shackled by rules nor 

 bound by systems. I have grown these two plants between 

 thirty and forty years in a highly manured soil, and regularly 

 compared them with specimens growing in their native lo- 

 calities, but never found any perceptible difference in their 

 structure, except that last year the stamens ran into petals 

 from excess of nutriment. I suspect the large-flowered plant 

 is not indigenous to this country by not producing fertile 

 seeds, and its not being found but in few places except gar- 

 dens ; probably it is a continental plant, the plant \E. angus- 

 tifolium] of Linnaeus. The small-flowered plant [E. macrocar- 

 pum\ is undoubtedly indigenous, and propagates itself by seed 

 abundantly. This latter plant is grown, I find, in gardens 

 in the neighbourhood of London : I never find it in gardens 

 here, but only the large-flowered plant [E. angustifolium], 

 probably furnished from the very old locality near Bewdley, 

 and considered wild by botanists." 



In July last Mr. Jorden kindly sent me living specimens 

 and roots of these two plants, from which I then drew up the 



