846 



upper leaves and bracts of E. scotica which are narrower thaii those 

 of E. minima and have a cuneate base.« I have examined many 

 hundred specimens of E. scotica from Scotland , Shetland and the 

 Færoes and have compared them with many specimens of£. mznznja 

 both from the Alps and from Scandinavia, and I can not find any 

 distincHon which holds good. I feel pretty sure, that the Scottish 

 elc. plant is identical with true E. minima. Townsend who has seen 

 a good deal of my Færoese material, has determined many speci- 

 mens with capsules exceeding the calyx as E. scotica, specimens 

 which are quite like the typical E. minima from the Alps. 



As pointed out by R. Wettstein (1. c. p. 159) E. minima varies 

 much with regard to the colour of the corolla; the true E. scotica 

 represents a form with pale or whitish flowers (f. pallida Gremli), 

 but from this we find all possible variations of colour until a form 

 with dark purpie corolla (f. purpurascens Wettst. 1. c. p. 159). The 

 main form is very common in the Færoes, and also the purple- 

 flowered form occurs frequently in the Færoese heaths; it is the 

 same form which has been described as E. foulaensis Towns, apud 

 Wettstein (1. c. p. 139). I have examined Mr. W. H. Beeby's speci- 

 mens from Hamnafeld on Foula, Shetland, upon which F. Town- 

 send has made his description, and they are, after my opinion, 

 only rather coarse, unbranched E. minima with dark purpie corol- 

 las and long capsules ; the specimens were found among heather and 

 this explains their somewhat flexuose stem. Both Wettstein (1. c. 

 p. 140) and Townsend (Monograph, p. 423) compare it with E. lati- 

 folia Pursh; but it is easily distinguised from it by its nearly glabrous 

 leaves; common to both forms are the obtuse teeth of the leaves 

 and bracts. 



The same form has been described in 1870 by E. Rostrup 

 (Færoernes Flora, p. 48) as E. gracilis, f. atropurpnrea Rostr., which 

 consequently is the name to be used. I have seen Rostrup's speci- 

 mens (from Hesto) and found them almost identical with Beeby's 

 specimens of E. fonlaensis. 



The synonymy of tlie form is then as tbllows: 



E. minima Jacq., f. atropurpnrea (Rostr. sub E. gracili); E. minima, 

 f. purpurascens Welisi., Monographie, p. 159; E. Foulaensis Towns. ap. 

 Wettstein, 1. c. p. 139; Townsend, Journ. of Botany, 1897, p. 422; 

 E. atropurpnrea (Rostr.) Ostenfeld, Bot. Færoes, I, p. 55; E. gracilis Fr., 

 f. atropurpnrea Rostrup, Færoernes Flora, Bot. Tids., IV, 1870, p. 48. 



E. gracilis Fr. is distinguished from it by its slender, erect, often 



