198 



LIMONIUM LYCHNIDIFOLIUM var. COEYMBOSUM. 



By C. E. Salmon. 



(Plate 422.) 



Last August, as announced in this Journal for 1900, p. 483, 

 Mr. 0. R. P. Andrews discovered this plant in Alderney, where he 

 found it growing sparingly on low rocks by the sea, in company 

 with FAmcndum, occidentale. This is a new record for the Channel 

 Island Flora, although it is known to occur in many places on the 

 west coast of France, and also in Normandy ; and it is possible 

 that this striking and distinct-looking plant may be found in Great 

 Britain itself. 



I have followed Dr. Kuntze in adopting the earlier name 

 Limonium for the genus which appears in our books as Statice. 

 The synonymy of the plant under description is as follows : — 



Limonium lychnidifolium 0. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Plant, ii. 395 

 (1891). 

 Statice auHcidcc-ursifoUa Pourr. in Act. Acad. Toul. iii. 330 



(1788), pro parte. 

 8. auricuUefolia Benth. Cat. PI. Pyren. 123 (1826) pro parte 



et auct. pi., non Vahl. 

 S. lychnidi folia Girard in Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 2, xvii. 18 (1842). 



var. CORYMBOSUM. 



8. lychnidifolia /J conjmbosa Boiss. in DC. Prodr. xii. 647 

 (1848). 



Girard' s original description of his lychnidifolia (omitting for 

 the present Pourret's plant) was published in 1842, and may be 

 translated : " Leaves more or less obovate, rather broadly acuminate, 

 scurfy-pulverulent ; lowest >icale of the scape often differing from 

 the upper ; branches stiffly erect, distichous ; spikes erecto-spreading, 

 subcongested, rather dense ; inner bract exceeding the outer three 

 times-''; calyx very obtusely 5-lobed; reproductive organs exserted; 

 anthers oblong." 



In the long and careful account which follows, Girard further 

 distinguishes his plant. I give what seem to be the most valuable 

 specific characters in condensed form : — Plant 6-18 in. high ; rather 

 robust. Root stout, woody. Leaves 2-4 in. long or more, ^-1 in. 

 wide, more or less obovate, sometimes subrotund or obovate- 

 lanceolate, rather broadly acuminate, subacute (usually tapering 

 to an obtuse point); apiculate (or not); scaly; glaucous; petiole 

 2-41 lines wide, longer (or shorter) than the blade ;^ 5-9-veined. 

 Scape (tapering from base) branched in its upper third (oi* in its 

 upper half). Scales usually varying in shape ; the lowest foliaceous, 

 |-1| in. long, 1-6 lines wide, the others smaller (and decreasing to) 

 2-3"hnes long^ 2 hnes wide, ovate-triangular, acuminate, with a 



* Probably by a printer's error, the words " inner " and " outer " have their 

 positions reversed in his original description. 



Journal OF Botany.— Vol. 39. [June, 1901.] p 



