ADDITIONS TO THE BRITISH FLORA. 83 
same species of Bromus, sometimes as B. arvensis, sometimes 
as B. racemosus; and in the past summer, in order to clear 
up the confusion, I collected a number of specimens of this 
smooth-flowered Bromus, in different parts of Britain. An 
examination of these, and of the specimens in the Linnean 
and Smithian herbaria, leads to the following conclusions. 
First, that Bromus arvensis (Linn.) is probably not a native 
of Britain, or, if native, is at least very rare. Secondly, that 
Bromus commutatus (Schrader) is frequent by road-sides 
and in corn-fields, being distributed from the south coast of 
England, (the Isle of Wight,) northward at least to Forfar- 
shire; in a luxuriant state of growth, being called B. arvensis, 
by British botanists; and in its more ordinary road-side 
degree of development, being denominated B. racemosus. 
Thirdly, that a non-pubescent variety of B. mollis is also 
named B. racemosus; this variety being not uncommon in 
meadows and damp waste ground. 
This view is greatly confirmed by continental specimens, 
for which I am indebted to Mr. Hornüng, an accurate Ger- 
man botanist—the same who is mentioned by Koch, in des- 
cribing B. commutatus, in the Synopsis Flore Germanice. 
The specimens labelled, “ B. commutatus, Schrader— B. agra- 
rius, Mihi,” by Mr. Hornüng, correspond with the English 
plant which has been so frequently mistaken for B. arvensis, 
(Linn.); and his specimens of B. racemosus certainly come 
very near the plant which I have long supposed only a variety 
of B. mollis; but whether this is the true B. racemosus of 
Linnæus, as held by Hornüng and other continental botanists, 
seems to me yet dubious. The errors of British botanists, 
D regard to B. commutatus, have probably arisen from at- 
taching too much importance to the length, and the simple 
or branched state, of the lower peduncles; characters that vary 
almost indefinitely in several of the brome-grasses, That 
the late Sir J. E, Smith had not sufficiently understood our 
native species, is fully proved by his herbarium, as well as 
by his remarks in describing B. racemosus of the English 
Flora, Thus, to a foreign specimen of B. arvensis, in his 
