. PECAND. DIGYN, 133 



danifera and S. pentudactyUs. Whole plant rigid. Slem^ reddish, 

 glabrous. Leaves slightly pubescent and viscid; Panicle much 

 . branched, subfastigiate. F/ozfer*' rather small. Pf/«/.s- linear obovate, 

 thrice as long as the cal. teeth. Germen inferior, oblongo-ovate ; and 

 the teeth of the calyx are longer than in any of this division. In 

 E. But. Sir James Smith gives Ehrhart the merit of distinguishing 

 this .species I'rom the .S'. geranoides of Linn. ; but afterwards, in Rees's 

 CijclopmUa, he inclines to think it a var. of that plant with more di- 

 vided leaves. This may be the case ; but without seeing intermediate 

 states it would hard!} be suspected : for each division of the leaves 

 of the geran. is bvoadlv wedge-shaped, and of a much thinner tex- 

 ture. The panicle, ho\\'ever, the flowers, calyx, and germen, are 

 precisely of the same structure. I should have thought it the same 

 with the S. ladanifera of La Peyrouse, but that that is described as 

 being covered with little points from which an odoriferous gum 

 exudes, ii. pentadactijlis has the segments of the leaves extremely 

 narrow indeed and obtuse. Another species very closely allied 

 to our plant is the S. ceratophylla of Hart. Kew. and Bot. Mag. 

 t. IGal, of which I possess specimens through the liberality of Mr. 

 Alton himself. It is distinguished by a still more rigid habit, by the 

 divisions of the lobes being bent back like a sickle, and by the calyx 

 being covered with a resinous but not clammy varnish ,• and is a 

 native of Spain, as geratiddes, ladanifera, and pentadactylis are of the 

 Pyrenees. May they not all be vars. oi geranoides? 



8. SCLERANTHtJS. 



1. S. a >w2i IIS [mrnuid Kiunvel), " cs\. of the fruit spreading 

 acute, stems patent" (SVw.). Light/, p. 225. E. B. t,^^\. 



Hab. Corn-fields, frequent. Ft. July. ©. 



Stems many, much branched in a dichotomous manner, slender, sub- 

 pubescent, straggling. Le^res linear subidate, keeled, membranous 

 at the base. Flowers green, inconspicuous, in axillary leafy clusters. 

 Crt/.urceolate, ribbed, with 5 ovato-lanceolate teeth, white and mem- 

 branaceous at the edge, spreading when in flower, and erect wlien 

 in fruit It will be thus seen that the above specific char., taken from 

 Smith, does not accord with my specimens, the fructified cal. of 

 which is exactly as represented in E. B.t.33\ , left hand 'fig. 



2. S. perennis {perennial Knawel), " cal. of the fruit closed ob- 

 tuse, stems procumbent" (Sm.). Lighlf. p. 1134 ? {S.poly- 

 carpos). E. B. t. 352. 



Hab. Sandy and gravelly places. Broomholm, near Langholm, in Esk- 

 dale ? Light/. Gravellv banks near Forfar, rare, D. Dun. Fl. Oct., 

 Nov. 1/. (Sin.) 



In my specimens of this plant the root is stouter than the last, and 

 may be perennial ; the ste7)is are shorter, more procumbent, the 

 leaves closer ; the flowers denser. But there is no difference in the 

 cal. or fruit, or in any other part of the plant. Surely they 'cannot 

 be distinct. I should say that S. perennis owed all its characters 

 to flowering late in the season^ or having, under favourable circum- 

 stances^ survived a winter. 



