18 



BROMUS INTEREUPTUS Druce. 



As was mentioued in our last number, Mr. G. C. Druce has 

 published in the Journal of the Linnean Society (xxxii. 426-30) a 

 full account of this new grass, of which we printed a brief 

 diagnosis in this Journal for 1895 (p. 314). As was there stated, 

 the plant had been published in the Report of the Botanical 

 Exchange Club for 1888 (not 1880 as printed) as B. mollis var. 

 interruptus Hackel, but the following note, which Mr. Druce has 

 kindly sent us, supplementing his Linnean paper, shows that it had 

 previously attracted attention as a British plant. Mr. Druce 

 writes : — ■ 



" I have found a specimen in the Watson Herbarium at Kew 

 labelled B. mollis var. pseudo-velatinus, dated 1849, which was com- 

 mented on by Mr. Watson in Phi/tologist, iii. p. 807 (1850), as 

 follows: — ' B. pseudo-velutimis. This is sent by Miss Barnard, from 

 a field at Odsey, in Hertfordshire (or Cambridgeshire?). It much 

 resembles that usually dwarf and littoral state of B. mollis which 

 has been erroneously called B. relutinus by several British botanists. 

 These inland specimens have culms fully four times as tall as the 

 shore plant, and the pubescence of the glumes or pales is shorter. 

 They are, indeed, simply examples of B. mollis, with the pedicels 

 and spikelets much shortened, and the panicle rendered more close 

 and compact. The specimen from Odsey, Avhich I at once recog- 

 nized as B. interruptus from the panicle, was found when examined 

 to have the split palea ; so that we now know that it is not a very 

 recent introduction to Britain. Professor Hackel assents to my 

 giving it specific rank.' " 



The full description of the plant, as given in the Linnean 

 Society's Journal, runs thus : — 



" Hei'ba annua, biennis aut perennis, stepius perenuis. Spicul^e 

 in pedicellis brdvibus rigidis singillatim (alteruatim dextrorsum et 

 sinistrorsum) in rhachide dispositse; singuli pedicelli cum 3-5 sessi- 

 libus aut subsessilibus spiculis apice pedicelli racemosim dispositi. 

 Panicula, florem et fructum gerens, erecta angusta evidenter 

 interrupta. SpiculaB, florem et fructum gerentes, erectfe primum 

 ovali-lanceolatiB acutas ; proventu ovales et obtusfe cum 6-12 flori- 

 bus glauco-viridis pubescentes. Gluma interior et vacua dimidia 

 non supra in partem sexti floris (tertii floris in eodem latere) pro- 

 ducta. GlumiB, florem et fructum gerentes, arete imbricatEie. Pal^a 

 inferior exterior marginibus dimidia parte inter mediam paleam et 

 apicem utroque latere obtuse angulata, 5-7-costata ; apice non- 

 nihil emarginata, pubescens aut subglabra marginibus late scariosis. 

 Arista ex una emarginatione inferioris paleaB precedens, fere directa 

 aut erecta, palea nonnihil brevior. Palea superior interior [fjiwna 

 florens superior) pmie ad basin in binas amjustas lanceolatas partes paled 

 inferiore vel exteriore dimidia parte aut duabus partibus minus lonr/as, 

 divisa." 



Mr. Druce adds : — 



" The most striking feature of this plant when first seen is the 

 inflorescence, which difl'ers from all other species of Bromus known 



