214 THK JOURNAL Of BOTANY 



herbaria possess numerous examples From the west coast of Great 

 Britain, extending to Shetland, and from many Irish maritime or 

 subrnaritime localities. It therefore seems reasonable to regard this 

 plant as an endemic British form, and to place it under J. montana 

 as a new variety, which it is proposed to name latifolia in allusion to 

 its relatively large and broad foliage. 



It will be noticed that while recent authors have maintained or 

 raised the status of Dub} r 's var. nxaritima, they have not adopted his 

 varietal names Icevis and hirsuta, which are also omitted from 

 De Candolle's Prodromus. This is no doubt due to the difficulty, or 

 rather impossibility, of dividing the species into two classes based on 

 Duby's characters. Willkomm and Lange (Fl. Hispanica, 1. c.) treat 

 the specific type as a plant with steins and foliage more or less hispid, 

 though less so than in var. echina/a. Probably glabrate forms are 

 rare or absent in Spain. In Britain, too, the hirsute form predomi- 

 nates, but clearly separable glabrate forms also occur, and it is 

 perhaps permissible to take Willkomm and Lange's view of the type 

 and to regard plants with glabrous or merely ciliate stem-leaves as a 

 form Icevis. 



The dwarf varieties gracilis, Borcei, and Timbali are not known 

 to occur in this country, but Brebisson's variety maritime/,, whether a 

 dwarf ally of var. latifolia or a form of var. littoralis, may be looked 

 for on our southern sea-cliffs. Forms of sheepsbit, not exceeding 

 one inch in height, have been recorded for the Cornish coast. 



Other less distinct forms also exist in Britain, such as the 

 prostrate plant of the sand-dunes of Wallasey Island, which resembles 

 some Swedish forms that have been named var. littoralis Fr. With 

 our present knowledge, however, it seems desirable to leave it under 

 the specific type and to restrict Fries's name to the more distinct 

 Bournemouth form. 



The British forms of Jasione montana, excluding var. maritima 

 Duby, which does not seem conspecific and is of improbable occurrence 

 here, may be distinguished thus : — 



Jasione montana L. Sp. PI. 928 (17o3). 



Stems usually numerous, suberect and 10-40 cm. high, or more or 

 less decumbent, or rarely prostrate ; cauline leaves linear-oblong or 

 linear, 10-25 mm. long and 2-4 mm. broad, obtuse, more or less 

 pilose. Involucral bracts ovate or rhomboidal, generally acute or 

 acuminate, slightly toothed or entire, pilose throughout or externally 

 glabrous, ciliate or not, rarely exceeding the flower-heads, which are 

 12-18 mm. broad (later axillary heads smaller). Flowering pedicels 

 1^-twice as long as the calyx-tube. Calyx-tube generally glabrous, 

 but occasionally minutely pilose ; teeth glabrous, setaceous, usuallv 

 erect and rigid in fruit. 



Widely distributed in Britain. 



b. L.SVIS forma nova. 



Exsicc. Trimen, Hounslow, 1866, in Hb. Mus. Brit., ut 

 J. montana ! 



Caulis pars superior et folia caulina (infimis exceptis) glabra vel 

 iiVterdum folia ciliata. Involucri bractea? exteme glabra*. 



