NOTE ON PUCCINELLIA 109 



' Gathered on St. Vincent's Eocks, near Bristol, by Mr. Milne, 

 who observed to me that Mr. Curtis first found it there.' In his 

 4th edition, ii. 147 (1801) he adds, ' Sir Thomas Frankland found 

 this plant gro\Ying on the waste ground near the Dock, betwixt 

 Bristol and the Hot wells. Also on the new Pier at Scarborough.' 

 This additional information is given in Curtis's publication and 

 presumably taken from it by Withering (though he makes no 

 acknowledgement) and the natural inference is that Curtis's species 

 was pubhshed after Withering's 3rd edition and before the 4th. 

 Also, Withering cites ' Curt.' in edition 4, not in edition 3." This 

 point had escaped us when we drew up the List of British Seed- 

 plants, in which we retained the genus Sclerochloa. Another 

 British species included by Parlatore in Puccinellia is P. festuccB- 

 formis (p. 368) ; if the genus be accepted by British botanists, 

 our other species of SclerocJiloa will have to be transferred to it, 

 but I purposely refrain from making new combinations. 



The following is the introductory portion of Messrs. Fernald & 

 Weatherby's paper, in which the history of Puccinellia is 

 given : 



" The essentially halophytic genus Puccinellia of Parlatore (Fl. 

 Ital. i. 366, 1848) has always been one of the least understood and, 

 even to agrostologists, one of the most perplexing groups of 

 grasses. The species superficially so closely simulate one another 

 that by many experienced botanists they are merged ; while the 

 generic status of the plants is often questioned. Thus by some 

 European botanists (for instance, Druce and Ostenfeld) the plants 

 are included under Glyceria, by others (as Ascherson & Graebner) 

 treated as a section of Festuca, while Britten & Eendle include 

 them in SclerocJiloa: In some characters species of Puccinellia 

 certainly approach all three of these genera, yet as a whole the 

 plants seem to constitute a good genus for which Piiccinellia is 

 the earliest unequivocal name. 



•' In Europe, however, the name Puccinellia is not generally in 

 use; but those who treat the group as a genus (for instance. 

 Briquet, Eichter or Eouy) call it Atropis. The status of Atropis 

 as a generic name is, nevertheless, open to serious doubt. It is 

 commonly cited as dating from Trinius in Euprecht's Flores 

 Samojedorum Cisuralensium (Beitr. zur Pflanzenk. des Eussischen 

 Eeiches, ii. 61, 64, 1845), and Grisebach in Ledebour's Flora 

 Piossica, but in the enumeration of plants Euprecht included it, as 

 Trinius (Gram. Suppl. 68, 1836) had previously done, under Poa, 

 indicating Atropis (Eupr. /. c. 61) as well as Phipima, Catabrosa, 

 Arctophila and Dicjjontia as sections or subgenera, thus ; 



" ' 311. Poa (Phippsia) algida (E. Br.).' 



" ' 312. Poa (Catabrosa) airoides Koel.' 



" ' 313. Poa (Atropis) distans L.' 



" ' 314. Poa arctica E. Br.' 



" ' 315. Poa alpina L.' 



'* ' 316. Poa pratensis L.' 



" ' 317. Poa (Arctophila) deflexa".' 



" ' 325. Poa (Dupontia !) psilosantha*.' 



