88 PLANTAGO CORONOPUS, LINK. 



near Charmoutli a plant which has turned out to be of rather 

 special interest. The Dorsetshire plant, though allied to the Irish 

 specimens in some points, differed considerably from them in habit : 

 the root was thicker and the leaves never flat on the ground 

 (except perhaps in the very early stages) but erecto-patent ; the 

 lamina of the leaf was 3-5-nerved and the lobes rather large. The 

 capsule was often 2-seeded, but this was not at all constant, as the 

 number of seeds seems to vary. 



It seemed to me it was well worth while to endeavour to identify 

 this plant, if it were possible, and I have embodied the conclusions 

 arrived at in the following somewhat fragmentary remarks. 



Mons. Decaisne in his monograph of the genus Plantago (De 

 Candolle's Prodromus, Vol. XIII.), diagnoses the section Coronopus 

 as follows : " Plants annuse vel perennes. Corollse tubus dimidia 

 inferiore parte villosus ; capsula sub-4-locularis,* 3-4-spermia." 



The section is sub-divided into those plants with rather thick 

 entire or sub-entire leaves and into those in which the leaf is flat 

 and either dentate pinnate or pinnatifid, and in this latter category 

 are to be found P. Serraria Lin., P. macrorhiza Poir. and P. 

 Coronopus, Lin., P. Serraria, L., is principally distinguished by 

 the rachis of the leaf being 3-5-nerved and by the teeth being 

 remote and linear or lanceolate, and the capsule 4- or by abortion 

 2-seeded. P. macrorhiza, Poir., originally described from Sicily, 

 has a stout root and fleshy leaves which are subimbricately incised- 

 dentate, the scape is pubescent, and the capsule is described as being 

 2-3-locular and 2-seeded. 



[The capsules of Todaro's exsic, No. 863, which is quoted by 

 Nyman as authentic for this plant, have been examined and found 

 to be as described.] 



Under P. macrorhiza, Poir., Decaisne quotes as synonyms P, 

 crithmoides,~Desl, P. coronopifolia, Brot.,andP.cerafop/i?/#a, Hoffm. 

 and Link, and Nyman follows him in so doing, adding P. negleda, 

 Gussone, and placing as a sub-species P. purpurascens, Willk. 



* Rarius 2-&permia also ought to be added. 





