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EUPHRASIA NEMOROSA AND E. CURTA. 

 By Eric Deabble, D.Sc, F.L.S. 



Many British Euphrasias submitted to the referees in this 

 genus by the two Exchange Clubs have been named E. curta var. 

 glabrescens Wettst. In this naming I have several times con- 

 curred, but in a few cases have suggested that they ought to be 

 called E. nemorosa, in spite of a slight hairiness of the leaves. 

 A prolonged study of these plants in the field and in the 

 herl)arium has led to the conclusion that two distinct plants have 

 been distributed under the name curta var. glabrescens — (i) a 

 slightly hairy form of curta — i. e. the true curta var. glabrescens of 

 Wettstein's Monograph ; and (ii) a form of nemorosa with slight 

 hairiness of leaf and bract, especially on the margins, and occasion- 

 ally with some hairs on the calyx, usually marginal only. 



Wettstein's descriptions of nemorosa and curta are given below. 



E. NEMOROSA Persoon" (Synopsis ii. p. 149, 1807) pro var. 

 — Gremli, Neue Beit. I. S. 18, 1880. — " Cauhs erectus crassus raris- 

 sime simplex, plerumque in parte inferiore usque ad medium cauhs 

 vel solum in media parte ramosus, 7-40 cm. altus, rubescens vel 

 fuscescens, pilis crispulis reversis eglandulosis pubescens, hinc inde 

 glabrescens vel bifariam pubescens, in parte inferiore foliis deciduis 

 mox denudatus, ramis erectis, saepe iterum ramosis, oppositis. 

 Folia infima obtusa, utrinque dentibus 1-3 obtusis, media et 

 superiora ovata vel ovato-lanceolata opposita acuta, medio fere 

 latissima, utrinque dentibus acutis, sed non aristatis 4-7. Bracteae 

 suboppositae latitudine folia caulina superantes, sed breviores, 

 basin versus latissimse, utrinque dentibus 4-6 acutissimis vel 

 breviter aristatis, patentes vel subarcuato-recurvse. Eolia omnia 

 viridia, glaberrima in speciminibus siccatis griseo-viridia, non 

 nitida, subtus plicata. Spica initio condensata, mox elongata. 

 Elores subsessiles. Calyx glaber, fructifer subinflatus, dentibus 

 brevibus. Corolla cca. 5 mm. longa, labio superiore bilobo, lobis 

 minute denticulatis, labio inferiore trilobo, lobis emarginatis, extus 

 hirsuta, albida labio superiore coeruleo picta et macula lutea 

 striisque coeruleis in labio inferiore vel tota plus minus coerulea. 

 Capsula cuneato-obovata, matura calycem sequans vel (saepius) 

 superans, emarginata, margine longe ciliata, ceterum pilosa vel 

 glabra" (p. 118). 



E. CURTA Fries (Novit. Flor. Suec. ed. 2, p. 198, 1828) pro var. 

 — " Caulis erectus, crassus, rarius tenuis, plerumque in parte 

 inferiore usque ad medium caulis ramosus, 3-40 cm. altus 

 (plerumque cca. 10 cm.), rubescens vel fuscescens, pihs crispuhs 

 albis reversis pubescens, ramis erectis vel erecto-patentibus, 



* Townsend (Monog. Sp. Euphrasia, Journ. Bot., 1897) quotes this plant as 

 E. nemorosa H. de Martius. On this matter see Townsend, op. cit., p. 405, 

 and Wettstein (Monog. Euphrasia, Leipsig, 1896), p. 118. 



Journal of Botany. — Vol. 54. [March, 1916.] g 



