198 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



black, destitute of stellate pubescence, with short black or black- 

 based hairs and a few gland-tipped hairs. 



Var. a, common in bushy places, hedgebanks, and open woods 

 throughout England. Yar. |3, on rocks in mountainous districts 

 in England, and on rocks and by roadsides and in bushy places 

 in Scotland, where it seems to replace the preceding form. Var. 7, 

 Great Ormes Head, North Wales (Backhouse). Var. S, Giggleswick 

 and Gordale Scars, near Settle (Backhouse). Var. s, on Highland 

 mountains, rather rare. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Autumn. 



A very variable plant, of which the forms, however, are so con- 

 nected together and change so much in cultivation that it is difficult 

 to believe them distinct. The form most common in England has 

 the stem 1 to 3 feet high, and the stem-leaves numerous, rarely 

 fewer than 3 or 4 in fully developed specimens, and sometimes 

 exceeding tbat number ; in the latter case approaching H. triden- 

 tatum in habit. The leaves of this form are usually distinctly ser- 

 rately toothed in the lower half and of tolerably firm consistence, 

 with rough hairs on the upper surface and soft ones beneath ; rather 

 bright-green, rarely spotted with black, less harsh to the touch 

 than those of H. maculatum, with the stem-leaves more numerous 

 and usually more strongly toothed, and with the teeth, when large, ■ 

 not curving so much forwards and less abrupt at the base ; the 

 stem tougher and more flexuous ; and the phyllaries more gradually 

 attenuated towards the apex. 



Var. |3 has the stem 6 to 20 inches high, and the stem-leaves few, 

 sometimes reduced to a single bract-like one, but more usually with 

 one large one near the base, and sometimes a second in the upper 

 part ; the apex of the radical leaves generally rather blunt, the teeth 

 more slender than in var. a, the texture much more membranous, 

 the upper face often, and the under surface frequently sub-glabrous, 

 the latter often purple : the anthodes fewer, on longer peduncles. 



Vars. y and S I have never seen, and have transcribed Mr. 

 Backhouse's characters. 



Var. £ shows an approach to H. nigrescens in the blackness of 

 the heads : the stem-leaves in this form are often small or bract- 

 like ; the anthodes are fewer and considerably larger than in vars. 

 a and 3 ; under cultivation it approximates to var. 3. 



The teeth of the leaves pointing forwards instead of outwards 

 or even backwards, distinguish all the forms of H. vulgatum from 

 H. murorum and H. caesium ; the livid styles from H. pallidum, 

 which some states of it resemble. 



Wood JSaickweed. 

 German, Gemeines Habichtskraut. 



