ALCHEMILLA ACUTIDENS 



283 



Alchemilla vulgaris-formen, 111, 1909) groups undei' one species 

 which he calls " A. aciUidens Buser, Lindb. fil. ampl." the follow- 

 ing plants of Buser — A. connivens f3 Wichurae (Bull. Herb. Boiss. 

 1894, 110), A. acutidens subsp. oxyodonta and A. Miirhechiana 

 {Botaniska Notiser, pp. 141-142, 1906). 



As regards ciisindens and flavescens, Briquet is perhaps cor- 

 rect in considering the former scarcely separable from A. acutidens ; 

 it is described as having leaf-lobes with divisions less deep but 

 more marked and more separate (recalling incisa), and its flowers 

 larger {xeoiXlmg firma) than those of acutidens. Busev's fiavesceiis 

 may, perhaps, be a distinct form found in Siberia ; it is entirely of 

 a dark yellow (when dry), with more abundant hairiness; the 

 petioles silky, also the base of stem, which is hairy nearly to the 

 top ; the leaves are hairy either all over or in the folds, and the 

 toothing smaller but less acute. 



Ascherson & Graebner (Syn. Mitteleur. Fl. vi. 411, 1902) divide 

 " A. eu-alpestris " into the following six varieties — I. sinuata 

 (Buser) ; II. acutidens (Buser) (with a form b. flavescens Bus.) ; 

 III. montana (Schmidt) {= A. connivens Bus.) with a sub-variety 

 b. Wichurae {= A. connivens /i Wichurae Buser), IV. versipila 

 (Buser); V. typica {= A. alpestris Schmidt) with a b. latiloba 

 {A. alpestris f. latiloba Buser); VI. frigens (Buser) {~ A. frigida 

 Buser non Wedd.). 



Mention must be made of Buser's A. acwninatidens (Bull. 

 Herb. Boiss. xi, 624, 1902) and the following are the chief 

 distinctions there given to separate it from A. acutidens : — 



A. acutidens. 



Leaves glabrous above or silky 

 along the folds and on the teeth, 

 beneath + silky along the edges, on 

 the front part of the lobes and on 

 those adjacent to the petiole ; teeth 

 numerous (6) 7-9 on each side, 

 narrower and closer together, very 

 equal, with the exterior edge more 

 curved, connivent upon the lower 

 leaves, strongly ciliate and peni- 

 cillate ; terminal tooth almost equal- 

 ling the lateral. 



Urceoles turbinate, with the base 

 elongated. 



Styles almost double the length 

 of the filaments. 



Pedicels (2-5 mm.) equalling 2-2^ 

 times the urceoles, upper pedicels 

 of the cluster equalling the urceole. 



A. acuminatidens. 

 Leaves glabrous above, beneath 

 faintly silky upon the front part of 

 the edges ; teeth 5-7 on each side, 

 unequal, acute, with the exterior 

 edge straighter and thus the teeth 

 more like a saw and spread out, 

 faintly ciliate ; terminal tooth small. 



Urceoles campanulate or tur- 

 binate, with the base abrupt. 



Styles not exceeding the fila- 

 ments. 



Pedicels equalling Ig-lj times 

 the urceoles, the upper ones of the 

 cluster one-third shorter than the 

 urceole. 



Buser concludes by observing: — "Generally A. acu7ninatidens 

 does not attain that degree of slender elegance that distinguishes 

 A. acutidens, the plant is more thick-set, the toothing coarser and 

 more unequal, the inflorescence more condensed, the flowers more 

 contracted and smaller. The amount of hairiness is half that of 



y 3 



