48 CRUCIFERAE 



five to eight pairs ol sessile leaflets, which are rounded at the base 

 but not cordately emarginate, and the flowers are usually white. 

 This is said to be the only form found in Labrador and Lapland and 

 the extreme north of Europe. Further southwards in western and 

 southern Europe it is associated with C. palnstris, becoming less 

 common, and being at last superseded by it. Specimens of C. palustris 

 frora the Binsey meadows were sent by the Author to the Bot. Exch. 

 Club in 1893. See Report, 400. 



The double-flowered plant sometimes occurs, as in Bagley Wood, 

 Hewlett in Baxter. Miss F. M. Parker found it at Fyfield, Mr. Boswell saw it 

 near Sunningwell, and I have seen it near Coles Pits, near Wantage, 

 near Pusey, near Abingdon, &c. 



Var. DENT ATA (Schultcs, Obs. Bot. 126, as a species) appears to be only 

 a luxuriant form of C. palustris. I have seen it in Bagley Wood, in 

 Aldermaston Soak, in Windsor Great Park, &c. 



Var. FRAGiLis, Lloyd, Fl. Ouest. Fr. 36. To this I refer a form with 

 white flowers and narrow brittle leaves, the upper of which are cut into 

 narrow segments. It has been noticed in upland pastures at Challow, 

 at Coleman's Moor, near Coleshill, near Stubbing's Heath, and in • 

 various other places ; it flowers later and produces seed-pods more fre- 

 quently than the lowland plant. 



The true C. pratensis of Linnaeus was gathered by me in Cothill bog, 

 and submitted for examination to Prof. A. Kerner von Marilaun and 

 Dr. E. V. Wettstein, who agreed with my determination. I have also 

 seen it on Pinkney's Green near Maidenhead. Although the Austrian 

 botanists speak in no doubting manner as to the well-defined char- 

 acters which separate C. pratensis from C. palustris, my own more 

 limited experience leads me to think that these characters are not 

 sufficiently permanent or marked to justify our regarding the two 

 forms as distinct species. The examination of a large series of speci- 

 mens shows that a plant with three pairs of leaflets may, or may not, 

 have them cordate, and may, or may not, have them sessile, while 

 the flowers in each series may be white or lilac. 



Cardamine pratensis (in the aggregate sense) is a conspicuous plant in 

 our meadows in the spring, but rarely produces fruit. The leaflets 

 become disarticulated and are carried about the meadows during flood- 

 time ; with the sinking of the water they are brought into contact 

 with the soil, and then put forth rootlets fi-om the under-surface and 

 forms a new plant, so that the species is practically independent of 

 seeds for its propagation. 



C. pratensis is found in all our British counties. 



C. Mrsuta, Linn. Sp. PI. 655 (1783). Hairy Bitter Cress. 



Top. Bot. 39. Syme, E. B. i. 160, t. no, Nyman, 37, Fl. Oxf. 26. 



Native. Glareal. Sandy ground, walls, ditch-banks, railway ballast. 



