25. IX. ROSxVCEUS. 179 



purple (?). Nut very rouudly obovate ; inner edge nearly 

 straight. 



This plant is very closely allied to R. Hystrix ; far more 

 so than to H. glandulosnsj Avith which it has always been 

 placed by English authors. Its stem is like that of the 

 other Radulce, but the larger prickles are not quite so 

 markedly separated from the small ones as is usually the 

 case. That difference in the stem, and the more elegant, 

 more pyramidal, and more abrupt panicle, are the chief dis- 

 tinctions between it and R. Hystrix, with wliich I sti'ongly 

 suspect that it will prove to be specifically identical. It is 

 with some diffidence that this opinion is given, for the 

 authors who have written concerning the plants seem agreed 

 in placing a considerable interval between them. Mr Not- 

 cutt, after studying the two plants in Red Wood, near 

 Cheltenham, was of opinion that they form only one species. 



R. Radula has a similar stem, but its prickles are not so 

 unequal ; its leaves are finely toothed and felted beneath j 

 its panicle has not the pyramidal form, nor its sepals the 

 leaflike point. 



We learn from a specimen in Borrer's Herbarium 

 (gathered at Woodmancote, Sussex) that he referred this 

 plant to R. Koehleri y 2}(illidtis, and believed it to be the 

 R. affinis of Smith. The panicle of that specimen is very 

 much divided and " exceedingly prickly. Mr Edw. Forster 

 considered the R. Koehleri a to be the plant intended by 

 Smith. I have already expressed my belief (p. 75) that 

 Smith's R. affinis is our 7i. Lindleianus. 



M. Questier sends this plant under the name of R. 

 Gilntheri, from which it diflTers in many respects : for 

 instance, in the armature of its stem, the form of its 

 panicle, and the total want of felt beneath its leaves. 



Habitat. — Woods and hedges. July, August. 



Area.— I 2 3 . 5 . 7 8 . 10 11 12 19 . . 



... 25. 



