149 



pureo suffusa vel raro pallide purpurea. Stamina co^ j^luri- 

 eeriata, filamentis intense coernleis cliscretis e-labris; 



antlierae 



varium 



albidae vel gilvae. „ ^. ^^ ^ _^ 



aculeis pungentibus densius indutum; stjlns elongatus; stigma 

 clavatum, lobis deeurrentibus contiguis pallide virescentibus ; 

 placentae intrusae; oviila plurima. Capsula oblonga, 1-25 cm. 



M 



vol. XX. p, 347, syn. M, horridula, var. rudis excl. flOOG); 

 Farrer in Gard. Cliron, 1914, vol. Iyi. p. 318, et 1915, vol. Ivii. 

 p. 110. M. Wardii, Farrer, I.e. 1916, vol. Ivii. p. 110 [nomen]. 

 i¥. raccTnosa, Fedde, I.e., p. 258^ pro parte et quoad fig. 35 M 

 (1909); T. Smitli in Gard, Cbron. 1909, vol, xlvi. p. 91, fig. 40; 



Wilson, Western Cluna, vol. i. p. 138 (1913); nee M 



Western Chika : West Kansn ; Sien-wLa-sban, 11,000 ft,, 

 Purdom T3G ; Peling Range, 1^,000 ft, (form witb long-pedicelled 

 flowers and witb simple basal scales accompanying tbe stem), 

 Purdom. Western Szecbuan; near Ta-cbien-lu, 13,000-15,000 

 ft., Soulie 635; Pratt 525; Wiho?i 3162; Ward 762, 891: 

 Mupine, 14,000 ft,, Wilson 3030. ]S"ortb-i;\-estern Yunnan; 

 A-tun-si, 13,000 ft., Forrest; Chnng-iien Plateau, 12,000-14,000 

 ft., Forrest, 12664, 12834; Mekong-Tangtse Divide, Kari Pass, 

 13,000 ft., Forrest, 13021, 



Tbis species, tben known on^Yhom specimens collected by Pratt, 

 was treated by the v;'viieT in 1896 as a variety of M. sinuata, 

 wbicb it greatly resembles in habit, but from wbicb it differs 

 in havinfir the leaves subentire aiid acute* The fullor material 



a 



ca 



oblong in place of loiig"-obco2iic. It was Uierefore removed from 

 M. sinuata and treated as an integral portion of M. rudis, witli 

 which it agrees in niiwber of petals, in length of style, and in 

 shape of capsule, when that species itself was being removed from 

 31. horridnla, to which it had been referred as a variety in 1896. 

 But on his return from his Chinese journey of 1908, Mr. E. H. 

 Wilson, who, with the kind permission of Professor Sargent of 

 tliQ Arnold Arboretum, had paid particular attention on the 

 writer's behalf to the g^enus Aleconopsis in the field, subjected 

 the treatment of 1906 to useful criticism. Mr. Wilson 

 was in a position to show that the removal of M. rudis from M. 

 horridula, effected in 1906, was essential. He had for the first 

 time been able to collect this species hmself on the uplands of 

 Pan-lan-shan, west of Kuan-hsien, at 14,000 ft., in June, 1908, 

 in flower, meetings T^'ith it again in the same neighbourhood in 

 August in fruit, and collecting it again both in fruit and m 

 flower, also in August, in the mountains to the north of Mupine, 

 at 12,000-13,000 ft. At the same time, however, he had to point 

 out that M. slmiatn, var. Prattiiy as originally defined in 1896, is 

 even more distinct from M. rudis than the latter is from M. 

 horridula. Mr. Wilson was already well acquainted with M. 

 sinuata, var. Prattii, which he had collected on cliffs near Ta- 

 chien-lu, at 15,000 ft. in July, 1914 {IVihon 3162), and was 

 able in refresh his memory as to its appearance by meeting with 



