73 



NOTES ON LIMONIUM* 



By C. E. Salmon, F.L.S. 



(Plate 511.) 



IX. — LiMONIUM TOMENTELLUM O. Kuiltze. 



The original description of this, under the genus Statice, 

 occurs in De Candolle's Prodromus xii. 645 (1848), where Boissier 

 gives the following diagnosis : — " S. tovienteUa, foliis ohlongo- 

 lanceolatis obtusis in petiolum breviter attenuatis uninerviis suhtus 

 ad nervum dense tomentellis margine ciliatulis cgeterum glabris, 

 scapo elato tereti superne subangulato parce et stricte ramoso 

 toto pube densa brevi rufescente tomentello, spiculis 2-3-floris in 

 spicas secundas oblongas subscorpioideas distiche et dense aggre- 

 gatis, bracteis rufescentibus velutinis membranaceo-marginatis, 

 exteriori ovato-triangulari cuspidata dorso carinata interiori duplo 

 majori ovato-rotundix dorso convexa obtusissima, calycis tubo 

 obconico toto rufescenti-velutino, limbi tubo duplo brevioris lobis 

 rotundis obtusissimis. If. In deserto Wolgensi (Glaus! comm. 

 a cl. Bunge sub S. Gmelini), Sibiria (Ac. imp. petrop. sub 8. elatd 

 in herb. DC). Habitus omnino et spicularum magnitude S. Li- 

 monii a qua indumento, fioribus densius imbricatis, lobis calycinis 

 rotundatis differt. A S. Gmelini fioribus majoribus, bractea in- 

 ferior! longiori acutiori dorso herbacea, tubo calycino toto velutino 

 indumentoque distincta. (v. s.)." 



I have had the opportunity of examining the actual specimens 

 quoted by Boissier from the Volga desert and Siberia and many 

 further examples of this local species from Eussia. I think that 

 the description above quoted may with advantage be slightly 

 amended so as to include individuals that otherwise would liave 

 to be separately accounted for. 



For instance, Boissier mentions that the leaves should be 

 densely tomentose on the vein beneath, rather ciliate on the 

 margin, but otherwise glabrous. This hardly describes, however, 

 his own plants, as the one leaf of the Siberian specimen is 

 minutely hairy all over the under surface, and the leaves of the 

 Volga desert example are distinctly, though minutely, hairy on 

 both sides. The average leaf appears to be one more or less 

 minutely hairy on both sides, with the midrib beneath more 

 densely hairy and the membranous margin glabrous ; rarely, one 

 finds ahnost glabrous leaves even as regards the midrib. Boissier's 

 description of the spikes, too, requires to be slightly modified, as 

 these vary considerably (as we have seen before in the case of 

 L. vulgare, L. Gmelinii and L. hellidifoliiim) and may be either 

 dense or lax-flowered. 



In 1856 there appeared a most interesting article by Vi. E. von 

 Trautvetter (in Melang. Biol. Bull. Acad. St. Petersburg) upon 



• See Journ. Bot. 1903, 65; 1904, 361; 1905, 5, 54; 1907, 24, 428; 1908, 

 1 ; 1909, 285. 



JouuNAL OF Botany. — Vol. 49. [March, 1911. J o 



