PLANTAGO CORONOPUS, LINN. 89 



There is also a variety of P. macrorhiza, Poir. * which has 

 been described by Gussone under the name b. humilis ; he 

 characterises it as having a slender root and carnose subcanescent 

 leaves. When examining the figure and specimens of P. ceratoplnjlla, 

 Hoffm. and Link, Fl. Port, p. 431., t. 74 (1809), I was at once 

 struck with the extraordinary similarity of this to the Dorsetshire 

 plant. It is originally described from Portugal, and has a long 

 thick root with much longer leaves than in P. macrorhiza, Poir., 

 subpinnatifid with remote lanceolate segments, the rachis of the leaf 

 much broader than in P. Coronopus, L.. the capsule described as 

 having 3 loculi, 2 seminiferous, and one smaller sterile. P. 

 coronopifolia, Brotero, Fl.f Lusitanica, i.. p. 157, appears identical 

 with the above. 



I have examined the capsules in a number of specimens of P. 

 ceratophylla to see whether they are as has just been described, and 

 find them generally to be so, trilocular and 2-seeded, but not by 

 any means always the case. As this is an important point, the 

 Dorsetshire plant being by no means always 2-seeded, I may say 

 that in a plant collected by Bourgeau on the banks of the Guadal- 

 quivir, No. 423, and quoted by Nyman under this species, in some 

 of the capsules were three perfect seeds, and in one capsule examined 

 were four seeds, the smallest being exactly 1 mill. long. 



Before attempting to identify a Dorsetshire plant with a Portugese 

 species it seemed advisable to submit specimens to Prof. Henriques, 

 of Coimbra, who has, perhaps, the most extensive knowledge of 

 the flora of that country of living botanists. He most kindly 

 examined a plant sent to him, obtaining from Lisbon, in order to be 

 in a good position to form an opinion, authentic material of the 

 Portuguese plant. In his reply Prof. Henriques states, that the 

 Dorsetshire plant quite agrees with his herbarium specimens of 

 P. ceratophylla, but he does not think that this species can be held 

 to be specifically distinct, but must be considered as synonymous 



* Fl. Sicula, p. 192. 



t A plant which I have seen so named by Prof. Henriques from near 

 Coimbra bears out this statement, but has a rather narrower rachis. 



