402 Mr. W. A. Leighton on Epilobium angustifolium. 



clusively on their appropriation, although, upon the \vhole, I 

 inchne to refer them all, with the exception of three or four 

 doubtful ones, to the true angustifolium. Below I have in- 

 serted their localities, with a view of directing the attention of 

 botanists in their respective neighbourhoods to their more 

 correct and certain appropriation by subsequent examina- 

 tions. One highly interesting result however is, that as so 

 many of these specimens are in all probability referable to the 

 true angustifolium, and as their localities range from the ex- 

 treme south of England far into Scotland, the right of this 

 species to be regarded as indigenous to Britain appears to be 

 clearly established ; whilst the occmTence of brachycarpum 

 generally in gardens renders it probable that its naturalization 

 in the habitats where it occurs has been originally from the 

 outcasts or escapes of cultivation. I have looked into all the 

 books, British and continental, within my reach in the hope 

 of elucidating the synonymy, but with little success. The 

 figure of ' English Botany ' is evidently our brachycarpum, the 

 form of the capsule and the direction of its peduncle being 

 very characteristic ; and as the locaUty from whence the spe- 

 cimen figured was gathered bears very suspicious marks of 

 being anything but a wild station, it seems highly probable 

 that the other habitats of the Cheviot Hills, Teesdale, and 

 the north of England there mentioned, are rather referable to 

 the true angustifolium. The descriptions of Smith's ' English 

 Flora' and Hooker's ' British Floi'a' are necessarily too un- 

 certain for accurate appropriation. The description of E. an- 

 gustifolium, Linn., and its variety /3. bracteatum, in Wimm. 

 and Grab. * Fl. Siles,,' vol. i. p. 368, leaves no doubt that these 

 writers were acquainted with both our plants, notwithstanding 

 they make no mention of the capsules. Their K. angustifo- 

 lium is the true angustifolium, Linn., and their variety /8. brac- 

 teatum is as certainly our brachycarpum, since they thus de- 

 scribe the former : " Folia brevissime petiolata, lineari-lan- 

 ceolata acuminata basi attenuata, .... integeiTima superne 

 obsolete denticulata. Sepala petala aequant. Petala breviter 

 imguiculata subrotundo-cuneiformia;" and the latter, "Corollis 

 amplis sepala superantibus, foliis mirnis acuminatis basi ro- 

 tundatis." Mention is also made of the bracteas being larger 

 in their variety ^. than in the species, a circumstance which 

 likewise occurs in our brachycarpum, but apparently not with 

 sufficient constancy to be applicable as a character. To our 

 brachycarpum I am also disposed to quote the E. angustifolium 

 of Bertoloni, ' Fl. Italica,' vol. iv. p. 291, from the apparent 

 correspondence of the description of the capsule and the di- 

 rection of its peduncle : " Pedunculi post anthesim ascendenti- 



