320 Mr Arnott's Tour to the South of' France 



on the banks of the stream, was the splendid Gentiana pyre- 

 naica, covering a considerable space with its deep blue blossoms. 

 This plant was to me of extreme interest, as I had received a 

 communication upon it from my friend M. Guillemin of Paris, a 

 few days before I had left Montpellier. " The structure of the 

 fruit," says he, " is very remarkable : it is truly club-shaped 

 ( clavcBformis ) ; that is to say, the ovary is upon a long pedicel, 

 and the capsule, tolerably short and round, splits and forms two 

 reflected lobes at the summit of the pedicel. This structure al- 

 so exists in G. aquatica from Caucasus, and in G. sedi/blia from 

 the Andes of Peru. M. Kunth, in his splendid work, figures 

 the latter, but is singularly mistaken in regarding the reflected 

 valves of the capsule as monstrous stigmas.'"* Though we saw 

 so much of this species in flower, and were able to see that the 

 ovary was pedicellated, we could not procure one plant with ma- 

 ture fruit. 



Farther up the bank, but still opposite to the Jasse de Del- 

 mau, were Ononis rotundifblia, Linn. (Spec. PI. ed. 1. not ed. 2. 

 which De Candolle has named O. tribracteata, and is perhaps 

 either a monstrosity or an imaginary plant), Luzula lutea, Saxi- 

 Jraga media, Veronica aphylla, and thousands of Adonis pyre- 

 naica. On this plant much discussion has taken place between 

 De Candolle and Lapeyrouse ; the latter insisting on its being 

 the true A. apenina, L., while the former declares that the plant 

 of Linnaeus is a variety of A. vernalis, and that the A. pyre- 

 naica is not found in the Apennines. But lately Proi.^ssor Mori- 

 caud (Dec. PL Ital. 6. p. 5. No. 58.) has actually met with a plant 

 on Monte Velino, which he calls A. apenina ; this is also the A. 

 pyrenaica of Brocchi (Cent. 1823), and scarcely ' ers from the 

 plant of the Pyrenees : in both, the radical leaves are on long 

 petioles ; but in the Italian plant the petiole is not trifid, but 

 simple, and is dilated at the base into a sheath. In it, the pe- 

 tals are from 12 to 16, obovate and entire, and the carpels are 

 scabrous, not smooth, as in A. pyrenaica. I believe the Italian 

 plant to be that of Linnaeus. 



Following the course of the river, Phaca astragalina, Oocy- 

 trcypis montana^ and Hutchinsia alpina, were every where abun- 

 dant. Papaver pyrcnaicum was also met with, but sparingly. 

 The valley began now to contract, and we crossed the stream 



