342 CRITICAL NOTES ON SOME SPECIES OF CERASTIUM. 



1. Cerastium Acherontium Teglas, Eeal. Tudositvanyaib. i. 17 

 (1872) = G. triuiale Link. Omitted from the Index Kewensis, as the 

 diagnosis is in Hungarian. 



2. C. AcuTiFOLiuM Dufour, Lettr. Mont. Maudit. 371 = C. al- 

 pinum L. Mentioned neither by Taufani in Pari. Fl. Ital. ix. 

 (1892), nor by Rouy & Foucaud, Fl. de France, iii. (1896). Type- 

 specimens are not known. 



3. C. ACUTIFOLIUM Schur, Enum. pi. Transsilv. 122 (1866). In 

 the Index Kewensis reduced to 0. ovatum. This species, however, 

 does not occur in Transylvania ; and the specimens referred to 

 C. ovatum by Schur belong to a very different species, C. trigijinim. 

 Simonkai refers C. acutifolium to C. alpinum, but Schur's description 

 of the bracts is very precise : he says, " bracteis naviculatis obtusis 

 scariosis, margine ciliatis." Now in all forms of C. alpinum the 

 bracts are herbaceous or only very narrowly scarious at the margin, 

 and acute or acuminate. I would rather refer the plant to C. layii- 

 gerum Clem., of which it may be considered a variety (C. lanigerum 

 var. acutifolium), This last is a species which is found in Bosnia, 

 Herzegovina, Kiistenland, and also in Thessaly, and includes con- 

 necting forms varying in the density of the indumentum, from the 

 light villous hairs found in the Transylvanian plant to the dense 

 woolly covering of 0. lanigerum var. alpicohun Hausskn. (in Mittheil. 

 Thiiring. Bot. Ver. 1893, 55). 



4. C. ADHERENS Fisch. in herb. DC, ex Gren. Monogr. Cerast. 

 70. These are Hungarian specimens of C. arvejise. 



5. C. ADscENDENs Wcndcr. ex Steud. Nomencl. Bot. ed. 2, i. 328 

 (1840). One of the names taken up by Steudel. I can find nothing 

 about the plant, and it is not mentioned in any German flora. 

 Whether type-specimens are among the 'PI. (Jariuthiacese ' in 

 DeCandolle's herbarium at Geneva I do not know. 



6. C. AFRicANUM Ollvcr, Fl. Trop. Afr. i. 141 (1868). 



Var. RuwENZoRiENsis Williams. Folia utrinque pilis longe hir- 

 sutis vestita, acuminata {6r. F. 6'. Elliut, 1893-94, nn. 7569b, 7670). 



Hab. British East Africa : Mt. Ruwenzori, in Uganda. 



Var. KiLiMANjARENsis Williams. Folia minora quam in typo, 

 anguste lineari-lanceolata acuta, minus remota. Petala calyce 

 sesquilongiora [Volkens, 1893, n. 792). 



Hah. German East Africa : Mt. Kilima-njaro. 



Both these varieties are distinguishable in aspect, rather than 

 by technical characters. The species has a wide range in Africa, 

 and its geographical limits are here given, as verified from specimens 

 exammed : — N. and W. German West Africa ; Gameroons Moun- 

 tains, 20*00-3000 metres [Mann, ex Oliver, Fl. Trop. Afr. i.). 

 E. German East Africa ; Mt. Kilima-njaro (H. H. Johnston, 1884), 

 and Usambara district [Hoist, 1893, n. 3254). S. Natal ; Drakens- 

 berg Mountains [Cooper, 1873). 



First described as an Arenaria by Hooker from Mann's speci- 

 mens. In these type-specimens the capsular teeth are distinctly 

 circinato-convolute, an important character which is neither noted 

 by Hooker nor mentioned by Oliver, nor is any clue given as to 



