224 HELLEBORUS OCCIDENTALIS IN BERKSHIRE. 



rectly quoted) that H. occidentalis is the Berkshire plant ; I did not 

 say "appears to be," but I said it "appears to be the common 

 western form." Mr. Britten taunts me with using the phrase, " It 

 appears to be the common western form, chiefly differing from the 

 type in being glabrous." It would have been more satisfactory if 

 Mr. Britten had brought some evidence on which we could rely 

 rather than his own ipse dixit. We have the definite statement by 

 Prof. Schiffuer, which I have quoted, that H. occidentalis is the 

 " westlichen und sud-westlichen" plant. Now as to my use of the 

 term " chiefly differing from the type in being glabrous." As any 

 unprejudiced reader will see, my reference was necessarily as brief 

 as possible, and I chose the most striking character which could be 

 readily grasped by the reader. To show that this character was 

 appreciated by one eminent botanist, I may say that in the her- 

 barium of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, Dr. Grenier has written 

 on an abnormal specimen that he refers it to H. occidentalis 

 because H. viridis Linn, is a hairy plant ("qui est poilue"). Prof. 

 Schiffner, in the clavis, also uses the term "behaart" for H. viridis. 

 Doubtless there are other characters, and I place considerable 

 stress on the more deeply-cut serrations of the leaves ; but I see 

 no reason for altering in the slightest degree the statement in my 

 Flora which Mr. Britten criticises. 



In the excellent Flore de France, by Rouy and Foucaud (which 

 unfortunately I did not see till after my Flora of Berkshire was 

 printed), and in which I am glad to find great attention is paid to 

 critical forms, the authors say of the aggregate H. viridis : — " Plante 

 variable a laquelle nous attribuons les varietes suivantes pour la 

 flore francaise ; ses varietes du reste passent souveut de I'une a 

 I'autre, surtout dans les regions montagnes du sud-est." They say 

 that " Des plantes du Calvados, de I'Orne, des Hautes-Pyrenees, et 

 des Alpes-Marit. reunissent les var. occidentalis et viridis," &c. 

 Like myself, they call Eeuter's plant var. occidentalis, and do not 

 take up var. Smitliiana A. Br. They diagnose the true H. viridis 

 thus : — " Feuilles radicales a segments oblongs lanceoles, a dentelure 

 fine et reguliere, dressee, a pubescence assez fournie a leur base, a 

 polls pluricellulaires ; sepales larges, suborbiculaires, verdatres. 

 Var. occidentalis Reut. pro specie. Feuilles radicales a segments 

 lanceoles assez profondement et irregulierement dentes, a dents 

 etalees ou dressees, a pointe souvent dejetee ; pubescence nulle a la 

 base des segments ou a polls uuicellulaires rares ; sepales ovales ou 

 ovales-oblougues, plus ou moins attenuees a la base, acutiuscules et 

 subcuculles au sommet, verdatres." 



Rouy and Foucaud cite Schultz, Herb. Normale, n. s. no. 2106, 

 for their H. viridis. This plant is labelled II. occidentalis by 

 Schultz, but I pointed out to the curator of the herbarium at the 

 Jardin des Plantes at Paris that it was not our Berkshire H. occi- 

 dentalis, but H. viridis; this was before I had seen Eouy and 

 Foucaud's reference. 



In case there should be still any doubt in the mind of any 

 unprejudiced reader respecting my statement that our Berkshire 

 (and I add Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire) plant is H. viridis 



