CONTRIBUTIONS TO A FLORA OF PORTLAND. 99 



plant ; the spikes of the purple flowers are remarkably 

 dense, stout and recurved, often forming a cross at the end 

 of the branches. (6) 



The first record of this species in Portland (though not at 

 that time correctly identified) Avas in 1832, by Professor 

 Henslow, a former Professor of Botany in the University of 

 Cambridge. In that year he made a historic visit to Portland 

 and found there a species of Limonium. His visit led to 

 a singular result, namely, a controversial and critical 

 examination of the plant and its affinities, extending over 60 

 years, a good illustration of persistent scientific investigation 

 crowned at length with success. It is only within the last 

 eight years that the Portland plant has been satisfactorily 

 determined as a species new to science. The honour is due to 

 my friend, Mr. C. E. Salmon, F.L.S., who for some years 

 made an exhaustive stud} 7 " of the British species of the genus 

 Limonium (formerly known, pro parte, as Statice). The 

 subject being not only of scientific but of local interest, 

 I propose to relate, in some detail, the history and 

 result of the critical elucidation of the species. For that 

 purpose I shall, with Mr. Salmon's consent, make free use of an 

 admirable Paper on Limonium recurvum which he contributed, 

 in March, 1903, to The Journal of Botany (Vol. 41, p. 65.) 

 My warm acknowledgments are also due to him tor other 

 valuable assistance. 



Ten years after Henslow's visit, Girard, a French botanist, 

 published in Les Annales des Sciences Naturelles (c) his 

 diagnosis of a plant found in France and Belgium, named by 

 him Statice Dodartii. In 1849, Mr. Charles Cardale Babington, 

 the late Professor of Botany at Cambridge, published in The 



(b) The accompanying plate, for leave to reproduce which we are 

 indebted to the courtesy < f Mr. James Britten, K.S.G., F.L.S., 

 Editor of the The Journal of Botany, is an excellent representation 

 of the plant. Editor. 



(c) Ser. 2, Vol. XVI I., 31 (1842). 



