EPILOBIUM NOTES 



FOR 1889. 3 



elsewhere. Specimens from nearly all my gatherings (amounting 

 to close on 170), were sent, together with some others collected by 

 Messrs. Beeby, Bennett, Geldart, and the Bev. E. F. Linton, to 

 Prof. Haussknecht. I cannot sufficiently thank him for his great 

 kindness, and the care with which he has scrutinized such a large 

 and troublesome mass of material. In the great majority of 

 instances, he has confirmed my suggested names ; and, in almost 

 every case where it was otherwise, I can see the correctness of his 

 trained opinion. Dr. Buchanan White has also sent me his 

 Perthshire willow-herbs to look over, some of which are named 

 below, to the best of my ability. 



Nearly all our species vary greatly, within certain well-defined 

 limits, the variations being usually traceable to climate, soil, or 

 situation. But I can find no connecting links (other than crosses) 

 between such allied plants as adnatum, Lamiji and obscurum, or 

 lanceulatum and montanum. Here the importance of studying the 

 spring or autumn rosettes is well illustrated ; for the " life- 

 history " of the plants reveals structural differences which are 

 seldom visible in herbarium-specimens. 



The hybrids are, as might have been expected, even more 

 variable; being subject to the same local influences, and also 

 inclining, sometimes to the one, sometimes to the other parent. 

 In many cases they are readily distinguishable, when fresh and in 

 good condition (of course careful drying is necessary, if the 

 characters are to be well shown) ; but in others, such as the 

 combinations of the " tetragonum" group with one another, the 

 determination is far from easy. A fair knowledge of the forms 

 assumed by the parent species is indispensable, in order to attain 

 anything like certainty. Hybrids between plants belonging to the 

 sections " Synstigma " and " Schizostigma " appear to have the 

 stigma, almost invariably, what may be called "obsoletely four- 

 cleft." 



It will be observed that three " triple hybrids " are mentioned. 

 When writing his monograph, Prof. Haussknecht does not seem to 

 have been convinced that such things existed in the genus ; but he 

 names the undermentioned ones with no expression of doubt, and 

 I have no choice but to record them on his authority. 



I think it probable that our list of British hybrids may be 

 increased to about forty, even if E. collinum (which Mr. Druce 

 tells me he failed to find again in its only known British station) 

 should prove to be really an extreme rarity with up. The work 

 done by Mr. Archer Brigg3 around Plymouth, and Mr. Towndrow 

 at Malvern, together with the result of two years' study in one 

 corner of Surrey, proves that local botanists, in neighbourhoods 

 where several species occur, can do much to increase our know- 

 ledge of the British willow-herbs. 



Epilobium angustifolium L., f. hraclujcdrpa (E. brachycarpnm 

 Leighton). The Kev. E. P. Linton has shewn me this, from the 

 ravine of the Unich Water, Forfarshire, which is several miles 

 distant from any garden ; and I have seen it from several moun- 

 tainous parts of Perth and Aberdeen. This quite disposes of the 



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