THE 



JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



BRITISH AND FOREIGN. 



-^ HEW YORK 



•otanicai, 



A NEW NITELLA. OAitDfiW 



Br Canox G. R. Bullock- Webstee, M.A., F.L.S. 



(Plate 551.) 



Ijj- August 1916, I visited Kindruin in the Fanad Peninsula, 

 County Donegal, Avith a view to searching for Charophyta in the 

 series of lakes which border on the sea at its northern extremity. 

 One of these lakes, Lough Shannagh, lies at the extreme north-east 

 of the peninsula. It is something under half a mile long and a 

 quarter of a mile broad, and does not exceed 10 or 15 feet in depth. 

 Its northern end, where its shore touches the sand}^ stretch Avhich 

 divides it from the sea, has a sandy bed ; otherwise it has a stony 

 bottom and seems to possess little submerged vegetation. On its 

 western shore the drag brought up two Nitellas, growing closely 

 intermixed in about 4-6 feet of water — the one, JV. translucens, in 

 sparse quantities, the other growing in great profusion, dull olive- 

 green in colour, very delicate and fragile in habit, and bearing 

 abundant fruit. Its interesting character was not at once observable, 

 but under the microscope it proved to be a plant with very distinctive 

 characteristics. Its exceedingly fragile nature made it very difficult 

 to collect and handle, and almost impossible to lay out on paper with 

 any good results. 



I paid another visit to Kindrum in August 1917 for the purpose of 

 making a further examination of this Nitella and its habitat and, 

 (-y^ if possible, of collecting better specimens. I found it growing at the 

 <^M same spot and in the same luxuriant abundance, and this time made 

 23 an attempt to transfer the plant direct from the water to the drying- 

 , sheets on the bank of the lake ; but even so it became rapidly flaccid 

 ^s. iuid proved impossible of disentanglement. I preserved a certain 

 ^ amount in formalin, and this has made it possilde to examine the 

 -^ ])lant under more advantageous conditions than if dried and subse- 

 ^ quently treated with reagents. 



Mr. Groves, who has carefully examined the plant, agrees that its 

 distinctive character justifies its receiving specific rank, and we have 

 drawn up the following description. 



One of its main characteristics is the very restricted number of 

 branchlets, and* this has suggested to us its name. 



Nitella spanioclema Groves & Bullock-Webster, sp. nov. 

 Monoecia, statura cir. 30-35 cm., caulis tenuis, internodi plerum- 

 (jue vel sequantes longissimis ramulis vel eosdem paulim superantes. 

 Joue:nal of Botajny. — Vol. ^7. [Ja^uaet, 1919.] b 



