344 CRITICAL NOTES ON SOME SPECIES OF CERASTIUM. 



Siberia and in Japan. Beyond the Arctic Circle it is recorded from 

 Spitzbergen, Bear Island, Grreenland, Novaya Zemlya, Melville 

 Island, North Alaska, and the land of the Tschuktchees in N.E. 

 Siberia. Specimens were long ago collected in Spitzbergen, and 

 were sent to Linn^us by his friend and correspondent Kolander 

 Martin. An interesting series of specimens, both of the type and 

 of aberrant forms, has recently been collected by Colonel Feilden, 

 during a visit to Novaya Zemlya and Vaigatch Island. In North 

 America the species extends from Alaska and Labrador southward 

 to Arizona and California. 



12. C. ALsiNiFOLiuM Tausch, in Syll. Ratisb. h. 213 (1828). Not 

 mentioned by Grenier in his monograph of the genus. By Kitaibel 

 referred to C. ovatum, by Bohemian botanists to C. arveiise, and 

 according to Nyman authentic specimens in Schur's herbarium 

 belong to C. alpinum var. (jlahratum Wahlenb. The type-specimens, 

 of which I have no precise information, are in the Prague Herbarium. 



13. C. ALSiNoiDES Lois, in Pers. Syn. Plant, i. 521 ; et Fl. Gall, 

 i. 271 (1806) ; Guss. Fl. Sic. Prodr. suppl. 140. [= C. tetrawlmm 

 var. alsinoides Rouy & Fouc. Fl. de France, iii. 217 (1896).] The 

 type-specimens so named by Loiseleur-Deslongchamps in Clarion's 

 herbarium were collected in the dept. of Gironde, near Bordeaux. 

 Mr. Frederick Townsend pointed out (Journ. Bot. 1877, 34) that 

 this plant is not specifically distinct from C. tetrandrum , and at best 

 can only be considered as a variety, and further showed that Grenier's 

 description of C. pumilum in his supplement to the Fl. de la Chaine 

 Jurassique" (1869) in part fits both C. pwnilum and C. tetrandrum, 

 but more particularly the latter. This plant from the neighbour- 

 hood of Bordeaux is distinguishable by its " broad and entirely 

 herbaceous bracts, by its much divaricated stems and panicle, and 

 above all by its flowers, many of which are tetramerous." After 

 carefully considering their claims, I would write up the synonyms 

 of this variety of C. tetrandrum as follows : — 



C. semidecaiidrum (non L.) Pers. Syn. Plant, i. 521. 



C. pumilu7n " Auct. gall, plur." var. a genuiyium, et var. ^ inter- 

 medium. 



C. glutinosum var. bracteatum Westerl. in Bot. Notis. 1869, 145. 



C. loumihmi Gren. & Godr. ; Willk. & Lge. (fere in toto) ; var. 

 laxum, var. divaricatum. 



C. gracile Dufour, in Ann. Gen. Sc. Phys. vii. 304 (1820). 



C. pentandrum (non L.) Moris, Fl. Sardoa, i. 265. 



0. suhtetrandrum Murbeck ap. Baenitz, Herb. Europ. anno 1892. 



This would give its geographical distribution N. and E. of Spain, 

 S. of France, Corsica, and Sardinia. By way of emphasizing its 

 diagnosis from other forms of C. tetrafidrum, a brief Latin descrip- 

 tion will suffice : 



C. tetrandrum var. alsinoides. — Planta 11-13 centim. alta, pr® 

 caulibus paniculaque irregulariter dichotoma ; bracteae latae foliacege 

 omnino herbaceae basi ad apicem pilosae, ovales vel suborbiculares, 

 acutffi ; pedicelli inferiores calyce 1-3-plo longiores ; flores plerumque 

 pentameri, interdum nonnulli tetrameri. 

 (To be continued.) 



