209 



STACHYS ALPINA IN BRITAIN. 



(Plate 384.) 



The accompanying figure of this interesting addition to our 

 Flora, which was announced with full particulars as to locality, 

 etc., in this Journal for 1897 (p. 380), is from specimens sent to 

 the National Herbarium by its discoverer, Mr. Cedric Bucknall. 

 We append the description of the plant given by Grenier & Godron 

 (Fl. de France, ii. 689), who place it with S. germanica L. and 

 8. heraclea L. in the section Eriostachys, which is characterized by 

 " bracteoles aussi longues ou presque aussi longues que le calice ; 

 tiges herbacees." 



"S. ALPINA L. sp. 812; Vill. Dauph. 2, jj. 378; DC. fi.fr. 3, 

 p. 548; Lois.! gall. 3, p. 14; Godr. fi. lorr. 2, p. 201; Koch, syn. 

 652. — Ic. Lapeyr. fi. pyr. tab. 8 ; Echb. exsicc. no. 1448 ! ; Billot, 

 exsicc. no. 613 ! — Fleurs presque sessiles, au nombre de 5 ^ 10 

 a I'aisselle de chaque feuille florale, formant un epi terminal tres 

 interrompu ; bracteoles lineares-subulees, attenuees a la base, 

 reflechies, plus ou moins velues. Calice muni de longs polls et 

 en outre de polls plus courts et glanduleux, campanula a dents 

 un pen inegales etalees, ovales, acumin^es-mucronees. CoroUe 

 purpurine, tachee de blanc, laineuse exterieurement, plus longue 

 que le calice ; tube muni interieurement d'un anneau de poils 

 oblique; levre superieure porrigee, obovee, obtuse entiere, barbue 

 au sommet ; levre inferieure plus longue que la superieure h, lobe 

 median le plus grand, emargine. Akenes gros, bruns, lisses. 

 Feuilles vertes en dessus, plus pales en dessous, velues sur les deux 

 faces fortement crenelees ; les inferieures longuement petiolees, 

 ovales-en-cmur ; les superieures sessiles, lanceolees, acuminees. Tige 

 dressee, velue, un peu glanduleuse au sommet, simple ou un peu 

 rameuse. — Plante de 3-6 decimetres." 



Nyman gives the distribution of the species as: *'Hisp. bor., 

 centr., or. Gall. Belg. Germ. occ. Bavar. Helv. Ital. bor., 

 med. (et Lucan. ?). Austr. Hung. Slavon. Trans. Croat. 

 Monten. Herceg. Bosn. Serb. Maced. mont." From this it 

 will be seen that, in spite of its specific name, there is nothing 

 intrinsically improbable in the occurrence of Stachys alpina as a 

 native British plant ; and Mr. Bucknall' s description of the Glou- 

 cestershire locality tends to estabhsh its nativity. As the plant 

 had so long escaped notice in a well-worked district, it seems 

 possible that it may have been similarly overlooked elsewhere, 

 and that the present summer may extend our knowledge of its 

 occurrence in Britain. 



Journal of Botany. — Vol. 36. [June, 1898.] 



