president's address. 329 



been exhausted. It is but about two years ago, indeed scarcely so 

 long, that a species, entirely new to the British Flora, was added to 

 the already teeming catalogue of Upper Teesdale rarities, by two 

 botanists, to whom we are indebted for previous valuable labours 

 in the same track — James Backhouse, sen. and jun., of York. 



"The plant alluded to is Poly gala uliginosa (Reich.), a species 

 included by Babington in a recent communication to the Botanical 

 Society of Edinburgh, as a variety of P. austriaca (Crantz.). The 

 typical form does not occur, to our knowledge, in Britain, nor^ 

 it is stated, does it seem to grow in the North of Europe, yet the 

 differences, so far as observation has yet discovered, between P. 

 austriaca and P. uliginosa are so slight, that Babington did not 

 consider himself justified in separating them specifically. 



" P. vliginosa differs from our common Polygalce^ at first sight, 

 in its rosette of apparently radical obovate and obtuse leaves, 

 of considerable size compared with those of the flower-shoot. 

 The flowers are small, and more or less of a pale lilac. 



" Speaking of this genus, I may perhaps be permitted, although 

 rather out of place, to add, that it seems probable that one of the 

 Polygalas of our moors, having long, wiry, and prostrate stems, 

 and the lower leaves often crowded and small, may be the P. 

 depressa (" Wend.," Coss. and G., &c.), distinguished, as a variety 

 of the Linnean P. 'vulgaris^ by Babington, in the paper referred to. 

 " Another plant, which, at about the same time as the Polygala, 

 was added to the Flora of this district, was Myosotis suaveolens 

 (Kitt.), M. alpestris (Sw.), a species, the occurrence of which 

 was previously limited, in Britain, to the mountains between 

 Lochs Tay and Rannoch, in the Highlands {WaisorCs Cyhele). 

 It was discovered by the Backhouses, at an elevation of 2,500 

 feet, on Mickle Fell. 



" A comparatively small number of the rare Teesdale species 

 were observed, during the excursion of the Club, for the reason 

 we have mentioned. Upon Widdy-Bank Fell, near the Cauldron- 

 Snout, on the Durham side of the river, grow — Thalictrum 

 alpinum, Tofieldia palustris (Huds,), Elyna caricina (M. and K.), 

 Juncus triglumis, and Carex capillaris. We sought in vain, on 

 this occasion, for the little inconspicuous Arenaria uliginosa 



