RANUNCULUS OBTUSIFLORUS 117 



B. petiveri var. major Koch (1843) is referred by Kouy & 

 Foucaud, on the other hand, to the particular form of the species 

 B. trichojihylhis which was named B. radians by Eevel (1853). 

 This appears to be a form of B. tricliophylUis with floating leaves, 

 and is, in some ways, a link connecting B. obtusiflorus and 

 B. trichophyllus. Koch, in the synonymy of his B. petiveri var. 

 major, cites his own B. aqiiatilis var. tripartitus (1835) ; and, 

 judging from the authentic illustration of this in Sturm Deutschl. 

 Fl., Kouy & Foucaud would seem to be quite correct in their 

 determination. The plant I regard as B. radians Eevel is locally 

 abundant in the ditches of the fens of Cambridgeshire : it seems 

 to be essentially identical with what passes for " B. godroni 

 Grenier," but I have seen no authentic description of the latter 

 plant. Grenier promised one in 1850, in Schultz Arch, de Fl. ; 

 but I have been unable to find that the promise w^as ever fulfilled. 



The synonymy of B. obtusiflorus and its two west-European 

 varieties is as follows : — 



E. OBTUSIFLORUS comb. nov. ; B. tripartitus var. obtusiflorus 

 DC. Syst. Nat. i. 234 (1818) ; Batrachium obtusiflorum Gray Nat. 

 Arr. Brit. PL ii. (1821); Hiern in Journ. Bot. ix. 69 (1871); 

 B. tripartitus Nolte Novit. Fl. Holsat. 51 (1826) non DC; 

 B. petiveri Koch in Sturm Deutschl. Fl. 82, 2 (1840) ; Batrachium 

 marinum Fries Fl. Suec. Mant. iii. 51 (1842); B. petiveri var, 

 minor Koch Syn. ed. 2, 13 (1843) ; B. baudotii [Godron am pi.] 

 Syme Eng. Bot. i. 24 (1863) ; N. E. Brown in Eng. Bot. ed. 3, 

 Suppl. 13 (1891); Eouy & Foucaud Fl. France, i. 65 (1893); 

 Batrachium salsuginosum Dumortier in Bull. Soc. Eoy. Belg. ii. 

 217 (1863) ; B. marinus Hooker fil. Stud. Fl. ed. 3, 5 (1884). 



(a) E. OBTUSIFLORUS var. vulgaris comb. nov. ; B. baudotii 

 Godron Essai in Mem. Soc. Eoy. Nancy, 21, fig. 4 (1839); 

 Babington in Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 2, xvi. 395 (1855)!; Batrachium 

 baudotii Van den Bosche Prodr. Fl. Batav. 7 (1850) ; B. baudotii 

 var. vulgaris Syme op. cit. 25 (1863) ; form baudotii Hiern ■'' op. 

 cit. 69 (1871). 



Icones : — Babington in Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2966, as B. baudotii. 



Exsiccata : — Billot, 2802, as B. baudotii ; Fries, ix. 28, as 

 B. marinum; F. Schultz (Herb. Norm.), 404, as B. baiidotii; 

 Wirtgen, ix. 436, as B. baudotii. 



(b) E. obtusiflorus var. confusus comb. nov. ; B. confusus 

 Godron in Grenier & Godron Fl. France, i. 22 (1848) ; Babington 

 op. cit. 394 (1855) ! ; B. baudotii var. confusus Syme Eng. Bot. i. 

 25 (1863) ; form confusus Hiern op. cit. 69 (1871) ; B. baudotii 

 subsp. confusus Eouy & Foucaud Fl. France, i. 66 (1893). 



Icones : — Fl. Dan. t. 1993, as B. tripartitus ; Koch in Sturm 

 Deutschl. Fl. h. 82, t. 2. as B. petiveri ; Syme Eng. Bot. i. t. 23. 



* Mr. Hiern's "forms," or " ultimate forms," as he terms them on p. 44 

 (1871), have no definite systematic grade; and consequently it is incorrect to 

 cite Mr. Hiern as the author of these "forms" when they are given definite 

 rank, such as species, subspecies, race, variety, ox forma. 



