I THE .TOURKAL OP BOTANY 



Soutliport form ; in colour yellowish green, . sometimes with the 

 faintest possible tinge of reddish brown externally ; petals and sepals, 

 especially the latter, longer, narrower, and more acuminate than in the 

 Southport form. Label whitish green, triangular cordate, acuminate, 

 straight or not much recurved, with two low slightl}'" wrinkled lateral 

 bosses, and no median boss. Hypochile rather less ventricose than 

 in the Southport form. Oermen large in proportion to the size of 

 the flower, practically glabrous. Stigma placed behind the pollen- 

 masses in such a manner that they, overhanging it, and being very 

 friable, appear easily able to fertilise it ; the exact opposite is the 

 case in H. latifolia, atrorubens, and violacea, where the stigma is 

 pushed forward so that the pollen-masses cannot fall upon it. Mos- 

 telluni, a funetionless rudiment. 



Flowering period. End of July in early seasons ; tow'ards the end 

 of August in late ones. 



Locality. In shade on chalk, Ventnor, Isle of Wight. 



Messrs. Wheldon and Travis have suggested to us in correspondence 

 that possibly this Ventnor plant may be the true viridi flora of the Con- 

 tinent, and that the Southport form may be a dune variet}^ of it, since on 

 the Continent viridiflora is a woodland plant. Moreover, the undulate 

 leaves of the Ventnor plant point to that conclusion. After consult- 

 ing Continental works on the subject, it seems to us most probable 

 that, although the Ventnor plant is nearer to the Continental viridi- 

 flora (especially as described by Rouy, Fl. de France, xiii. 204, 

 205) than the Southport form, it is hardly quite identical. It is 

 safest to assume that the exact Continental form is unlikely to occur 

 in Britain ; so for the sake of convenience we ])ropose to call the 

 A'^entnor plant H. viridiflora forma vectensis ; and the Southport 

 plant H. viridiflora forma dimensis. The forma dnnensis is dia- 

 gnosed in detail by Wheldon and Travis (Journ. Bot. 1913, 344). 



A few points regarding these two forms may be noted with 

 advantage : — 



(i.) The Ventnor plant flowers later than the Southport one ; but 

 this is only what might be expected, for it grows in the shade, 

 whereas the Southport form grows in a hot situation among sand- 

 dunes, in full sun. Even then, the Ventnor plant flowers earlier than 

 E. latifolia, in warm seasons. In cases we have observed of E. lati- 

 jolia, the plant will flower from a fortnight to three weeks earlier 

 when growing in full sunlight, than when growii>g in deep shade : 

 even when the two spots are within half a mile of each other. 



(ii.) The Ventnor plant grows on chalk in the shade, the South- 

 port plant on sand in the sun. But it is no very exceptional thing 

 for two forms of one species to have both these habitats. H. palustris 

 lias forms growing on chalk, and others on sand-dunes : and even 

 H. latifolia may grow out of its natural woodland habitat. For 

 instance, when visiting the Ainsdale sand-dunes in July 1914, we 

 found one large plant of H. latifolia among the dunes, close to many 

 flowering examples of H. viridiflora : it was only in bud, however. 



(iii.) The habits of the two forms are quite different, which may 

 be largely accounted for by the different habitats. We have observed 

 quite analogous forms in H. latifolia, plants growing in the sun 



