• 32. R. DIVERSIFOLIUS. 221 



base, and tlie upper i^art of the flowering slioot furiuHlied 

 with tlie longest prickles (their size and length decreasing 

 gradually from a short distance below the top to the base). 

 Apparently the Jl. Schleicheri (Weihe), if we are to judge 

 from the plate in the liuhi Ge7'7)ianici, is nearly allied to, and 

 may be identical with, our E. diversif alius. It manifestly 

 belongs to the Koehlerians and is placed close to 11. Koeh- 

 lerl by Dr Metsch. Such also seems to be the case with 

 the E. ScJdeicheri of Godron, who states that his plant is 

 the K. glandulosus of Schleicher's Plantce exsiccatce; but it 

 is doubtful if as much can be said of that described by Bo- 

 reau, who seems to have drawn up his account of it from a 

 combination of the description and figure in the Eubi Ger- 

 manici. The specimens sent by Leighton to Nees v. Esen- 

 bech (of which I have two examples before me), named 

 R. Schleicheri by him, and therefore so called in Leighton's 

 Flora, belong to B. diversifolius. 



On the other hand Weihe's description of R. Schleicheri 

 in Bluff and Fingerhuth's Compendivm, that in Riihi Ger- 

 j/ianici, that by Metsch in the Linncea, and by Beichenbach 

 in the Flora excursoria, all seem to refer to quite a distinct 

 plant from our R. diversifolius. The author of the descrip- 

 tion in Ruhi Germanici remarks : " aculei majores ad unci, 

 minores reclinati, omnes autem conferti lataque basi caulem 

 quasi tuberculis exasperatis," by which I understand an ar- 

 mature such as is found amongst the Radulce, and very 

 different from that represented on the plate in the same 

 work ; and yet the author of the description adds in a note 

 that the plate is " satis fida." The large prickles repre- 

 sented on that plate are connected closely by those of inter- 

 mediate sizes with the smaller prickles, those similarly with 

 the aciculi, and the latter with the setiB and hairs, as is the 

 case in all plants belonging to the Koehleriani ; the prickles 

 and aciculi are also, as in that group, subulate in shape. 



19—3 



