HYPERICUM DESETANGSII IN BRITAIN 319 



Very few good figures seem to exist of H. Desetangsii. That 

 in Coste's Fl. Fr. i. p. 259, 1901, is small but satisfactory. 



No plates in Beichb. Icon. Fl. Germ, exactly agree ; No. 5178 

 is the nearest, but the flowers are too small ; it is probably 

 correctly named quadrangulum x tetrayterum. A similar plant 

 is figured in Fl. Dan. t. 2837. Eeichb. Icon. Fl. Germ. 

 No. 5180, has the sepals too obtuse; it is labelled H. commu- 

 tatum Nolte. 



Kouy & Foucaud (Fl. Fr. iii. 336, 1896) consider H. Desetangsii 

 and H. undulatum as two subspecies under H. acutum Moench 

 (= tetrapterum), but the former, at any rate, would be better 

 placed, I think, under their H. quadrangulum, of which it has the 

 large flowers, bright yellow petals, non-winged stem, &c. 



There is no doubt that H. Desetangsii has been confused with 

 hybrids of H. quadrangulum and H. tetrapterum, or even per- 

 foratum, but I think a good case has been made by the botanists 

 mentioned above for H. Desetangsii as a species next to H. 

 quadrangulum. 



Bonnet's H. Desetangsii a genuinum is represented in Soc. 

 Dauph. 1880, No. 2409, and agrees well with the Lewes plant 

 upon which Prof. L. Corbiere has reported : " Je crois que 

 votre plante est bien H. intermedium Bellynck = H. Desetangsii 

 Lamotte." 



The plant distributed by the Societe Dauphinoise (1879, 

 No. 1998) represents Bonnet's var. imperforatum, which I have 

 not seen in a fresh condition ; the dried example in Hb. Kew is a 

 fruiting specimen only, and is not very convincing. 



The Lewes plant certainly comes under H. Desetangsii 

 genuinum, yet the sepals were noticeably unequal in shape and 

 size upon the same calyx and often denticulate or even more or 

 less eroded at the end. Grenier (Fl. de la Ghaine Jurass. 

 154, 1865) aptly remarks upon the same feature : — " Sepales 

 lanceoles, aigus ou subules, 6rodes, ce qui rend leur terminaison 

 indecise." 



Babington's var. maculatum of H. dubium Leers (Man. Brit. 

 Bot. ed. 3, 58, 1851) is not the plant under discussion ; type 

 specimens of this have kindly been lent me by Dr. C. E. Moss 

 for examination. 



H. Desetangsii has been recorded from Eastern, Northern, and 

 Central France and Belgium (Nyman), Germany, Spain, and Italy 

 (Bouy & Foucaud), and Switzerland (Schinz). England: Rich- 

 mond, Yorkshire, B. B. Bowman {Hb. Kew), and near Lewes, 

 Sussex. It will probably occur in other places in Great Britain. 



Explanation of Plate 528. — 1. H. Desetangsii a genuinum, drawn from a 

 fresh Lewes specimen, nat. size. 2. Upper leaf of same, nat. size. 3. Sepals 

 of same, twice natural size. 4. Upper leaf of H. quadrangulum, nat. size. 

 5. Sepals of same, twice natural size. 



2b2 



