2.44 



ON A NEW FORM OF MYOSOTIS FROM SUSSEX. 

 By J. G. Baker, F.L.S. 



I have known for many years that there was a Mijosotis in Sussex of 

 the Fugaces gronp, that ditfcred both from M. colUna and M. versi- 

 color. I received specimens of it abont fifteen years ago, under the 

 name of M. stricta, but soon found tliat neither did it coincide with 

 that species. Tiiis year Mr. Mitten has again drawn my attention to 

 the plant, and has taken the trouble to visit the locality where it Is 

 found, Danny sandfield, near Hurstpierpoint, and has sent me, at two 

 different times, a box of living specimens in various stages of growth, 

 along with living plants, for comparison, of M. collina and M. ver- 

 sicolor, with both of which he has compared it through a long course 

 of years. There are good specimens in Mr. Borrer's collection at 

 Kew, gathered in 1845, which are labelled, with marks of quotation, 

 " stricta .''" As I cannot make out that the plant has any name already, 

 I propose to call it Myosotis colUna, var. Mlttenii, and give the follow- 

 ing description, which is taken from Mr. Mitten's two batches of 

 living, and from Mr. Borrer's dried specimens : — 



Rootstock none. Stems csespitose, in luxuriant examples 5 or 6 

 produced from the crown of the root, 1^-3 inches high in the flower- 

 ing stage, stretching out to 5 or 6 inches finally, the grey hairs dense 

 towards the base, all erecto-patent. Leaves moderately grey-hispid 

 on both surfaces, the lower ones under an inch long, oblong-spathulate 

 with a distinct haft ; those of the stem shorter, oblong, nearly or quite 

 sessile. Raceme 6 -12 -flowered, reaching down nearly to the base of 

 the stem, the lowest flower, or frequently the two lowest, with distinct 

 leaf-like bracts, in the final stage 2-3 inches long, the" lowest flowers 

 6-9 or even 12 lines apart. Pedicels in the fruiting stage erecto- 

 patent or a little curved, quite as long as the calyx, the hairs all ad- 

 pressed. Upper flowers nearly sessile. Calyx 1-T^ line deep, the 

 linear teeth twice as long as the campanulate tube,- the grey bristles of 

 which are all patent or the lowest deflexed. Corolla not more than half 

 a line across Avhen expanded, very pale blue with a yellow throat, the 

 tube slightly exserted, slightly longer than the expanded limb. Fruit 

 calyx open, under an eighth of an inch long. 



The general habit and vestiture is quite that of M. colUna, from 

 which this form differs principally by its smaller, paler corolla, with 



