202 



NOTES ON DE. FOCKE'S BUBI EUBOP^I (1914). 



By the Rev. W. Moyle Rogers, F.L.S. 



(Concluded from p. 182.) 



B. hypoleucHS Lefv. & Muell. As this is the earlier of the two 

 names suggested in recent years for our plant (the date of publi- 

 cation being B. hypoleucus L. & M. 1859, B. adscitus Genev. 1860), 

 and as there seems to be no question as to the identity of the two 

 plants, it appears best that we should now retain the earlier name 

 hypoleucus — accepted by us in 1905 (instead of B. micans Gren. & 

 Godr.), after the publication of Dr. Focke's work in Aschers. & 

 Graebn. Fl. Mitt. — rather than again follow him in his final pre- 

 ference for B. adscitus. His reason for such preference in Rubi 

 Europ. is as follows : — " Specie! cognitio ex hac descriptione [i. e. 

 Genev. Mem. Soc. M. et L. viii. p. 88] derivata est ; nomen adsciti 

 igitur praefero." I have not, however, seen authentic specimens 

 of Continental hypoleucus ; and so, personally, I should have also 

 preferred the name adscitus, as our typical and widely distributed 

 British plant agrees admirably with Genevier's specimens and 

 description, as well as with the living examples of his plant that 

 I have seen abundantly in the Channel Islands, Brittany and 

 Normandy. Compare Journ. Bot. 1905, p. 202, and my Hand- 

 book of British Bubi, p. 48 {" B. micans Gren. & Godr."). 



A brief account of my B. Lettii (Journ. Bot. 1901, p. 381) is 

 followed by the note, "Formam borealem B. adsciti esse e speci- 

 minibus exsiccatis suspicor" — a suggestion which I considered 

 only to reject, when I preferred placing it amongst our Egregii 

 because of the Koehlerian-like armature of all its stronger 

 examples. While obviously recalling B. adscitus in the very greyish 

 tint of the whole plant, B. Lettii seems best placed between 

 B. criniger and B. Gelertii. Dr. Focke confines it to Ireland, and 

 thus far the strong, highly glandular type has not been found 

 elsewhere, though what seems to be a weaker form of the same 

 plant occurs in some of our western counties, especially in 

 Cardigan, Salop, and Hereford. Between his B. adscitus and his 

 B. vestitus he also places a plant of the Plymouth neighbourhood 

 (which I cannot now trace) as " B. adscitus x rusticanus. Planta 

 spectabilis, luxurians, alte scandens, thyrsis longis et inflores- 

 centiis compositis amplis patulis ornata. Singuli frutices in 

 eodem loco variabiles ; occurrunt in plantis magnis interdum folia 

 semper fere ternata cum foliolis subtus virentibus. Sterilis 

 videtur. V. v. duce Archer Briggs." Our reasons for preferring 

 the name B. leucostachys Sm. to the slightly later one B. vestitus 

 Wh. & N. — which is generally adopted on the Continent and is 

 still adhered to by Dr. Focke — are given in full in Journ. Bot. 

 1905, p. 202, and need not be repeated or added to here. This is 

 placed by him in closer relation to B. hypoleucus {B. adscitus) 

 than in our list. 



It is when he comes to deal with the Vestiti that his sugges- 

 tion of a hybrid origin for some of the plants becomes more 



