358 AEENARIA GOTHICA FRIES, IN BRITAIN. 



such as Aspcnda tinctoria, Jasione montana, Sclercnithus, Potentilla 

 coUina, Cerastiiun r/lutijiosum, Poa bidbosa, Melica ciliata, Sedums, &c. 



At the time of the discovery of the plant in June it was in full 

 flower. When Mr. Lees visited Ribblehead it was in abundant, 

 mostly ripe, fruit, though, as already noted, still bearing occasional 

 flowers, and with, in at least two instances, luxuriant blossoming 

 upon a second crop of stems. Some of the specimens attained a 

 height, or spread, of 2h inches from the base of the stems. In 

 these more elongated ones the stems were mostly fewer than in the 

 others, and usually becoming much branched upwards. But the 

 majority did not exceed 1|- inch, and were densely tufted, branched 

 from the base itself. 



Mr. Arthur Bennett suspects the presence of A. gothica near 

 Grasmere Lake, in Westmoreland. On the occasion of my first 

 visit to him with the Eibblehead Arenaria, he showed me a fragment 

 of an unknown plant which came to him in a gathering of Potamo- 

 ffcton ohtusi/olius, made at Grasmere by Mr. Roper, of Eastbourne. 

 While we were examining the A. gothica together, he detected a 

 likeness between the unidentified fragment (a barren shoot only) 

 and the specimens before us. Mr. Martindale has been good 

 enough, at his request, to search part of the ground about the lake 

 for A. gothica, but his quest has hitherto been in vain. 



Since 1 wrote the foregoing pages, Mr. J. G. Baker has favoured 

 me with the information that he also visited the Ribblehead 

 locality in September, finding it easily from Mr. Rotheray's 

 directions. He says : — '* The locality is not satisfactory as regards 

 nativeness. It is a road close to the railway station. But this is 

 not a plant likely to have been introduced, and I expect it will be 

 found on some of the neighbouring hills." On the question of the 

 comparative rank of the plant Mr. Baker is very explicit : — " I have 

 now carefully compared it with our (Kew) series of neighbouring 

 forms. The conclusion I have come to is, that fugax, multicauUs, 

 norvegica, SLiid gothica are mere varieties of ciliata. Type ciliata is 

 very widely spread. It extends from Greenland, Spitzbergen, 

 and Nova Zembla, southward through the Alps, Carpathians, 

 and Pyrenees, to Central Spain, North Italy, and Transylvania. 

 Multicaulis and norvegica I make to be varieties told off in high 

 latitudes and altitudes ; fugax and gothica annual lowland varieties. 

 Some of the Ribblehead specimens are undistinguishable from 

 norvegica, some from gothica. Distribution of the collective plant in 

 Britain is very curious." 



Still later, I have received an interesting letter from Mr. N. E. 

 Brown, of Kew. He has carefully examined the Ribblehead plant 

 with Fries' authentic specimens and his original description of 

 A. gothica, and Gunneri's original description and figure of A. 

 norvegica. He concludes that gothica and norvegica are but varieties 

 of ciliata. The Ribblehead specimens agree " to a hair " with the 

 specimens and description of A. gothica, differing from A. norvegica 

 in having the leaves ciliate at the base and in being altogether more 

 distinctly puberulous on the stems. The sepals also are distinctly 

 carinate as described by Fries, whilst he saya those of A. iiorvegica 



