238 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HLSTORY 



CAREX HELVOLA, BLYTT, ON BEN LAWERS. 



By G. Claridge Druce, M.A., F.L.S. 



I WAS afraid the statement made by the Rev. E. S. Marshall 

 in " Journ. Bot." p. io8, although quite accurate, might lead 

 to misunderstanding ; and this has been the case (see " Ann. 

 Scot. Nat. Hist." p! i88). 



Mr. Marshall says : " I think the Ben Lawers plant, found 

 by Mr. Druce in 1897, and issued as C. helvola, Blytt, van, 

 is this hybrid [C canescens x echinatd] . . . that was my first 

 impression. . . . The canescens parent in this case would 

 h^fallax'' [sic]. But this only refers to one special gather- 

 ing of C. helvola, which as it did not agree with those 

 previously found, I distinguished as " var." It must not be 

 assumed, therefore, that all the Breadalbane C. helvola is the 

 hybrid suggested by Mr. Marshall. 



It may be well to restate the history of C. helvola, Blytt, 

 as a Perthshire plant. In 1895 the Rev. W. O. Wait, a 

 well-known bryologist, told he had recently seen C. lagopina 

 on Ben Lawers. Unfortunately he had no specimen ; but 

 in 1896 he again, with Mr. N. V. Sidgwick, visited the 

 locality, and brought me some very immature specimens 

 collected at the end of June. They were, however, sufficiently 

 developed to enable me to say they were not lagopina ; and 

 I was at first inclined to refer them to montane canescens, 

 but subsequent dissection led me to believe they were nearer 

 helvola. Dr. Lange of Copenhagen, to whom it was sub- 

 mitted, thought it must be macilenta, Fries (" Fl. Danica," 

 Supp. iii. t. 168). Not being content with this determina- 

 tion, I sent him another specimen, when he replied : " The 

 young [plants] of C. canescens are very difficult to decide ; 

 there is little difference between C. canescens, C. macilenta, 

 and C, helvola. Your specimen is intermediate between the 

 two latter, possibly sooner the C. helvola^ As there was 

 still doubt, I deferred publication until I had obtained further 

 material. In August 1897 I went to Lawers and found 

 the plant in Mr. Wait's exact locality in some plenty, over 

 a limited area, about 3400 feet altitude ; but, the season 

 being backward, the specimens were still immature. A 



