36 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



tending leaves, and terminate in rather crowded cymes, are 

 all very nearly of the same length, and thus give a racemose 

 character to the entire inflorescence. The stem in A. vul- 

 garis, a, L., bears fewer leaves ; some of the branches which 

 terminate in loose cymes are elongated ; and the entire in- 

 florescence gives the impression of a raceme of umbels rather 

 than of a true raceme." 



Last year, when botanising in Glen Spean, I found on a 

 rock at the entrance of one of the upper corries near Aonach 

 Mor a large-leaved AlcJiemilla, which struck me as possibly 

 the same with this. I collected specimens and sent a sheet 

 to A. von Kerner. He and Dr. von Wettstein assented to 

 my query as to its identity with the var. glabra of Wimmer 

 et Grabowski. The specimen of A. glabra in the " Schedae 

 Exsicc." in Herb. Brit. Mus. is in an immature state, so that 

 one cannot well compare its inflorescence with my well- 

 matured plants from Scotland. In these I fail to see any 

 marked variation from specimens of A. vulgaris in the inflor- 

 escence, or in the presence of large foliage-leaves on the 

 stem. The flowers are somewhat larger, and the texture of 

 the more yellowish-green leaves is somewhat different, while 

 the total absence of hairs from the leaves, flower-stalks, and 

 calyces, is the most marked character. Cultivation must 

 decide whether there is really any claim to varietal distinc- 

 tion. 



A somewhat similar, but smaller, plant was gathered in 

 quartz shingle washed down from Ben Eay near Kinlochewe 

 in West Ross, and it will probably be found to have a fairly 

 wide range in the Highlands. 



The arrangement of AlcJiemilla in the London Catalogue 

 requires alteration. No. 498 should stand A. vulgaris, L. 



Var. b. should be var. glabra, Wimm. et Grab. ; and if 

 A. montana, Willd., be really a British plant (which Nyman 

 does not give), it should be placed as var. c. montana. I 

 have seen no specimen which I could certainly call by that 

 name ; but I have examined no very extensive series. 



Probably A. conjuncta, Bab., would be more correctly 

 placed as A. alpina, L., var. argentea (Don.) ; since Mr. H. 

 Boswell tells me that A. alpina which he brought from Ben 

 Lawers has become changed in his garden into A. conjuncta. 



