1914-15.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 331 



Tali range," which did not quite fit in with the varietal 

 description. However this may have been, Forrest's No. 

 4101 is, in my belief, the P. Listeri, King, var. glabrescens, 

 of Franchet's description (see p. 310); Forrest's No. 1815 

 is a less xeromorphous form probably in consonance with 

 habitat. 



To have retained Franchet's varietal name of glabrescens 

 for the plant here called P. sinolisteri, Balf. fil., would have 

 been following recognised rules, but there is a P. glabrescens, 

 Nylander, now sunk in P. stricta, Hornem., and a P. 

 glabrescens, Arv.-Touvet, said to be a hybrid (elatiorx 

 officinalis), and possibly the same as P. media, Petermann. 

 according to Pax. The name selected indicates the 

 Chinese distribution of the plant and the affinity with 

 P. Listeri, King. 



P. sinolisteri, Balf. fil., is an easily distinguished form 

 in the series obconico- Listeri. The woody rhizome is well- 

 developed (see the top left-hand figure in Plate XLVII). 

 The leaves have wiry petioles with a firm vagina and are 

 usually longer than the lamina, which is rounded orbicular 

 with cordate base and sharply marked marginal lobing, 

 the lobes denticulate. In this lobing the leaves show the 

 form so conspicuous in P. Listeri, King. The lamina, too, 

 has a firmer consistence than in many other forms, 

 Distinguishing the form at once from all others is the 

 character which gave origin to Franchet's varietal name 

 of glabrescens — the absence of long articulate hairs. The 

 petioles, scapes, bracts, pedicels, and calyx are more or less 

 puberulous ; the upper surface of the leaf maj' also be 

 slightly puberulous, but the hirsute or villous covering so 

 evident in all the obconicas is absent here. Indeed the 

 plant at sight seems to be glabrous. The scapes are not 

 long, though they exceed in length the foliage. The strict 

 pedicels diverge and the calyx lobes are conspicuoush T 

 triangular often with denticulations. The difference in 

 length of the corolla-tube in the long-styled and short- 

 styled flowers is very marked, and the former have, as is 

 so common in the type, a better developed annulus and a 

 narrower throat than the latter. The style is exserted in 

 the long-styled flower. 



This plant is one of the most pleasing of the introductions 



