CKITICAL NOTES ON SOME BRLTAXXIC SAXIFRAGES 159 



stolones longe lateque super petras spargit, et emu descriptione 

 ^S*. conclensatcB maxime convenit ; inflorescentia autem apice ramosa 

 variat, estque aliqiiando pauciflora, s*pius quinque et octoflora." 

 ^J'here seems, then, to be cause for doubt as to the validity of *S'. lepto- 

 ■pliylla Pers. 



S. APFixis D. Don, I. c, pp. 418-9 ; Engl. Bot. Suppl. t. 2903. 

 8. hirta ft, affinis Sjme, E. B. ed. 8, pp. 81-2. 8. sponJiemica 

 Baker {pro minima parte), non Grmelin. — A very distinct species, I 

 believe ; not at all closely allied to 8. hirta Sm., nor yet, so far as 

 can be judged from dried H. aJ7igifolia, to that P^^renean plant. 

 There are authentic specimens, originally from the summit of Brandon 

 Mountain (Mackay first found it there in 1805), in Herb. Smith and 

 Herb. Edinburgh ; it is also grown on the Kew Pockery. 



The character of the inllexed petals, on which both Don and Smith 

 strongly insisted, is certainly not constant. It does not appear in the 

 dried authentic plants, nor in the cultivated one at Kew, of which I 

 have seen freshh^ gathered pieces. The English Botany figure well 

 represents its habit, though the leaf-segments are drawn too broad 

 and blunt (they really taper into a long, slender, hyaline point) ; it is 

 also " fakei " to order! The original sketch has the petals flat; the 

 detached one on the plate w^as added later. 



This has not been observed for many years in the original station ; 

 but it surely exists on other parts of the extensive Brandon range, and 

 probably elsew^here. Mr, Baker named a plant collected on Caher- 

 conree, Slieve Mish range, by H. C. Hart, as >S'. affinis Don (Fl. 

 Kerry) ; I have not seen this. 



S. PLATTPETALA Smith, in Trans. Linn. Soc. x. 391 ; Engl. Bot. 

 t. 2276. S. eu-liypnoides a, pJatypetaJa Syme, E. B., ed. 3, p. 83. 

 ^S*. sponhemica Baker {pro maj or i parte !), vix Gmelin. — The English 

 Botany figure — apparently drav.n from garden-grown material — has 

 much larger flowers than the type-specimen in Herb. Smith ! ; and 

 the leaf-ciliation is much exaggerated in 3rd edition reprint. 



S. platypetala is common in the central and south-western hill- 

 districts of Scotland, where it ascends to between 3000 and 4000 feet, 

 though often subalpine, or even lowland, and on the Welsh mountains ; 

 probably, also, in England, from Derbyshire northw^ards, and in the 

 northern half of Ireland; but I have not seen it from Keny, the 

 Galtees, &c., all the plants so labelled being states of >S^. hirta Sm. 

 It is certainly distinct from true >S'. hypnoides ; they often grow 

 together, and (I feel sure) cross freely, which may account for their 

 having been combined by some museum-botanists. 



S. ELONGELLA Smith, in Trans. Linn. Soc. x. 340 ; Engl. Bot. 

 t. 2277. >S'. sponhemica Baker (in part). — I have not seen this in a 

 living state, and have not yet come to a definite conclusion about its 

 rank ; but it clearly approaches >S'. platypetala, and may be a modifi- 

 cation of that. The absence of axillary buds in all G. Don's original 

 specimens from Lintrathen (noi'th of Airlie Castle, Glen Isla, Forfar- 

 shire) is against its inclusion under S. hypnoides, vera. In Herb. 

 Dublin there are two small examples from him (Loch Callater, 

 S. Aberdeen, and " mountains of Aberdeenshire and Angus-shire "), 



