498 



In the 'Phytologist' for February (Phytol. ii. 423) Mr. James Back- 

 house mentions his having found a variety of Ranunculus hederaceus 

 " with remarkably large flowers " near the head of Coniston Water, 

 which was new to him, but probably the variety named ' grandiflorus ' 

 by Babington. 



Mr. Backhouse obligingly sent me a specimen of his Coniston 

 plant ; at the same time informing me that Mr. Babington had recog- 

 nized it as his variety ' grandiflorus.' This specimen has shown me 

 that the variety ' partitus ' of the London Catalogue is identical with 

 Mr. Babington's variety ' grandiflorus,' which I was fully prepared to 

 believe ; though Mr. Babington takes great care that T shall not get 

 from himself any authentic examples of his newly recorded species or 

 varieties. Thus, the three names — Lenormandi, grandiflorus, and 

 partitus — are synonyms of each other. Whether regarded as a spe- 

 cies or as a variety, it will be advisable to adopt the name of ' Lenor- 

 mandi' for this plant; that of 'grandiflorus' having been long applied 

 as a specific name for an Asiatic Ranunculus, which has really large 

 flowers. 



I have a specimen brought from Cumberland twelve years ago ; 

 and have frequently observed the plant about Esher and Claygate, in 

 this neighbourhood. I should say that the most obvious difference 

 between the ordinary form of hederaceus and Lenormandi, is found 

 in the latter having the lobes of its leaves more deeply divided, in ad- 

 dition to the secondary notches or lobes, which gives it considerable 

 resemblance to R. aquatilis. The flower is certainly larger than usual 

 with R. hederaceus ; but it is still small when compared with that of 

 R. aquatilis, in its usual size. I cannot say that Lenormandi is a 

 larger plant than hederaceus. I have seen the latter both larger and 

 smaller than any examples of the former. Though I have often look- 

 ed at the two plants, where growing intermixed, I could never satisfy 

 myself of their distinctness as species ; and, indeed, I have some- 

 times felt uncertain to which of the two some examples should be 

 assigned. 



There is still a third form of R. hederaceus, which grows out of wa- 

 ter, and is distinguished by its more deeply divided, almost deltoid, 

 and divergent lobes of the leaves, the flowers varying in size, but less 

 than that of Lenormandi. On the other side, I have seen some spe- 

 cimens of hederaceus with reniform and entire leaves. 



Hewett C. Watson. 



Fehi'uary 25, 1846. 



