1914-15.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 327 



from the immature specimens I have seen — the pedicels 

 remain erect. 



In addition to these characters the calyx shows points 

 of diagnostic value. The tube is long, very hairy, and the 

 whole calyx exceeds in length the corolla-tube. The vena- 

 tion of the calyx is on the lines of the obconica form, but 

 is much emphasised. The corolla has a stout tube which 

 is most distinctly annulate. This annulation of the corolla 

 is, as I have already pointed out. a variable character in the 

 series. P. obconica. Hance. itself has but a minute fringe 

 of an annulus, green-yellow in colour within the uniformly- 

 tinted eye. Easily seen in the living plant, the annulus is 

 not so readily made out in dried specimens, and it may 

 be that its apparent absence in forms which have been 

 examined for it only in the dried condition may be a 

 consequence of the drying. Here in P. ambita. Balf. fil.. 

 it is prominent. I note also that the disk of the corolla 

 between the annulus and the base of the lobes is only 

 1 mm. broad. 



We have no information about the habitat of this 

 plant. Its somewhat thick leaves seem to indicate a 

 spot where some form of physiological drought is induced. 

 It looks like a plant of stony ground, probably sun 

 exposed. 



I have without hesitation given a name to this micro- 

 form. 



It is characteristic of the I/isteri type to have scapes 

 shorter than, or only equalling, the foliage. The inflor- 

 escence is thus more or less immersed in the leaves. The 

 same feature occurs in the obt series. We have 



seen it in P. parva, Balf. til., and we shall see it later in 

 forms like P. barbicalyx, Wright. It is conspicuous in 

 a number of lar^e-leaved forms of which I give some 

 illustrations. 



Plate XLIII represents a plant of Wilson's collecting 

 (No. 4033). now in the Kew Herbarium. Xote the large- 

 ness and the denticulation of the lamina, which is some- 

 what thin. Also the delicate few-flowered scape is short 

 The plant is almost bare of hairs. 



In the herbarium of the British Museum is a specimen 



