142 SEDUM PRUINATUM BEOT. 



Europe^,' it is treated as identical with that plant. Even Dr. 

 Henriquez, the Professor of Botany at Coimbra, though acquainted 

 with the true plant, was for a time unable to escape fi-om the 

 general confusion. In the ' Boletim de Sociedade Broteriana,' iii. 

 1884, p. 208, he records in a list of Gerez Plants, " S. pruinatum 

 Brot.— Brot. ii. p. 209-5. Gerez (Brot.) ; Leonte (J. H.). Port.— 

 De Braganca a serra da Estrella. Area geogr. — Da peninsula iberica 

 a Inglaterra; de Portugal a Belgica." Here the citation of the 

 species is correct, while the geographical notes refer to S. elegans 

 Lej. [N.B. — In the same hst S. aUissimum Poir. should be S. 

 elegans Lej., and S. rillosuin L. should be S. hirsutum All.] Subse- 

 quently (in the same journal, 1888, pp. 21, 22) Dr. Mariz, of 

 Coimbra, has corrected the mistakes of previous authors on this 

 point, but, as his paper is little known outside Portugal, I think it 

 well to call the attention of EngHsh students to the point. In 

 June, 1887, I myself collected the plant in the Gerez, but, misled 

 by the erroneous synonymy referred to above, concluded that I had 

 collected S. amplexicaule DC, to which S. pruinatum bears a very 

 close resemblance in habit, though differing in the structure of the 

 leaves, and in some other points. I owe the correction of this error 

 to Dr. Henriquez. 



So far as at present known, S. pruinatum is confined to a very 

 small area in, or close to, the Gerez district, in the extreme north 

 of Portugal. Consequently it has been seen by very few botanists, 

 and probably hardly exists in any herbarium outside Portugal. 

 This will account for the confusion which has arisen, though it is 

 hard to see how Brotero's description in ' Flora Lusitanica ' could 

 be supposed for a moment to apply to S. elegans, or to any species 

 at all like it. It is as follows : — 



" Sedum pruinatum. — S. Foliis carnosis, oblongis, convexo- 

 planiusculis, basi solutis ; caule erecto, ex glauco pruinoso, inferne 

 ramoso ; cynia bifida ; calycis foliolis sex, acutis, lanceolatis. 



Hab. in Gerez, et ad Piio Homem in Duriminia. Fl. sestate: Ann. 



Planta viva nondum mihi occurrit ; ex specimine sicco a CI. 

 Prof. Lmk communicato : Kadix fibrosa, annua. Caulis filiformis, 

 leviter angulatus, quinqueuncialis, erectus, basi ramosus, dein 

 simplicissimus, glaber, et ex glauco pruinosus, ut tota planta. 

 Folia sparsa, oblonga, basi soluta et auriculata, carnosa et ex 

 convexo planiuscula, quantum potui in sicco specimine conspicere. 

 Cyma saepius bifida, ramis simplicissimis, paucifloris, floribus 

 breviter pedunculatis. Calyx saepius hexaphyllus, foliolis lanceolato- 

 subulatis, pruinosis. Corollae petala sex, acuminata, lanceolata, 

 calyce fere duplo majora. Stamina duodecim. Pistilla sex." — 

 'Flora Lusitanica,' ii. 209-10. 



This description is accurate, except in one respect. The plant 

 is perennial, not annual. The colour of the flowers is a somewhat 

 pale yellow. The most curious feature about the plant is afforded 

 by the wiry, filiform branches, 5 or 6 in. long, thrown off" from near 

 the base of the stem. These are quite naked, except at the tip, 

 where they are clothed with a dense cone of leaves. In the autumn 

 these cones throw out rootlets, and presently establish themselves 



