291 



exceeds a line : in the latter, too, the expanded part of the calyx dif- 

 fers in form, the lateral lobes being rounded, and not longer than the 

 intermediate one. The author remarks, — " Can there be two spe- 

 cies confounded under this ? Unfortunately the extreme rarity of the 

 plant puts great difficulty in the way of the determination of this point." 



2. Halimus portulacoides, Wallr. Stem erect or ascending, woody, branched. 

 Leaves oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, entire, contracted below into a rather long petiole. 

 Flowers in smaU clusters, forming a small, branched, terminal raceme. Peduncle ve- 

 ry short ; calyx of the fruit rounded below, widening upwards, three-lobed at the top, 

 intermediate lobe usually longest ; lower part of the back of the valves muricated. — 

 " Wallr. 117; Reich. 576; Fl. Germ. Exsic. 870 ! Bluff et Fingerh. 442; Koch. 609. 

 Atriplex portulacoides, Linn. 1493 ! Sm. Eng. Bot. 261 ; Eng. FL iv. 256; FL Dan. 

 tab. 1889." 



Common on the sea-shore. Perennial. August to October. 



The existence of two species under the name of H. portulacoides, 

 is indicated by Nees ab Esenbeck, — "the one, borealis, described by 

 Roth in the ' Flora Germanica ' and figured by Nolte in ' Flora Dani- 

 ca,' the other, australis, occurring in the South of France, and differ- 

 ing from the first in habit, in the naiTower and more scaly leaves, and 

 in the pointless calyces of the fruit." * Mr, Babington says — 



" Specimens which I possess from the south of Europe are unfortunately in much 

 too young a state for the characters drawn from the fruit-bearing calyces (the only ones 

 of value) to be determined. I suspect that specimens which I gathered upon Exmouth 

 Warren, in Devonshire, in September, 1829, will prove to be this latter plant ; for al- 

 though the fruit, from being young, will not allow a certain conclusion to be drawn, 

 yet, as far as I can ascertain, the calyx is totally without tubercles upon its back, and 

 it appears to be much less rounded below than is usual in the true H. portulacoides. 

 * * It is much to be wished that those botanists who may visit the southern 



coasts of Britain, would endeavour to determine the existence of the latter plant (H. 

 australis) upon our shores, and also that they would turn their attention to the value of 

 the character drawn from the muricated calyces in the genus Halimus." — p. 16. 



Each species is illustrated by very neatly engraved figures in out- 

 line, of the lower leaves, the leaves near the top of the stems, and the 

 enlarged calyces of the fruit. 



(To be continued). 



Art. LXXIX. — Varieties. 



179. Additions to the List of Wharfedale Mosses. I returned a short time since 

 from a two days' excursion in Wharfedale. This excursion was partly a geological 



* Genera Plantarum Florae Gennanicae Iconibus lllustrata, (Monochlam.) No. 64. 



2b2 



