240 Mr. C. C. Babington on some species of Epilobium. 



cinise calycinse villosae. Siliqua villosa. Flos sequentis [E. 

 palustris~\ ." 



These descriptions do not agree with the first specimens 

 (H. N. ii. 46), and differ slightly from the description given 

 in the 'Novitisej' but they do agree tolerably well with the 

 specimens afterwards stated by Fries to be the true plant 

 (H. N. X.), the leaves of which are subsessile, broad, and roimded 

 /ife Vhe base, from whence they narrow, with tolerable regularity, 

 to their tip, which is suddenly contracted to an obtuse angle. 

 They are opake, thin, and apparently flaccid, distantly denti- 

 culate, slightly hairy. The presence of the word " subcoriacea " 

 in the ' Flora Hallandica ' causes some difficulty, for it is hardly 

 possible that the leaves of the plant sent to me in the ' Herb. 

 Normale^ (fasc. x.) can ever have been subcoriaceous. That 

 specimen has an upright base, thickening from a slender broken 

 point, and producing 4 or 5 whorls of fibrous roots, — a structure 

 different from what I understand by Fries's term, "chordo- 

 rhizum." After a careful consideration of the plant and the 

 descriptions, I have arrived at the opinion that tlie E. virgatum 

 (Fries, H. N. x.) is E. obscurum, and am inclined to the further 

 opinion, that the E. virgatum of the ' Fl. Hall.^ is the same 

 plant. The peculiar base of the stem in the specimen probably 

 results from its having grown in a very wet place. 



Having thus, as it is hoped, shown the probability of E. vir- 

 gatum being a synonym of E. obscurum, we may proceed to the 

 consideration of the characters, &c. of that plant and its ally, E. 

 tetragonum. I am indebted to my valued friend INIr. Borrer for 

 directing my attention to these plants, and pointing out their 

 more important diff'erences. Since the original sketch of this 

 paper was written, I have seen a valuable memoir by Dr. Grise- 

 bach (Bot. Zeit. 1852, p. 849), and Dr. F. Schultz has very 

 kindly sent to me a copy of his excellent review of it (Arch, de 

 Flore, ii. 41). From the study of Mr. Borrer's manuscript 

 notes and his specimens, and of the writings of these two emi- 

 nent botanists, I have obtained a tolerably clear idea of the 

 subject. 



The following is the mode in which the plants may be cha- 

 racterized : — 



E. tetragonum (Linn.) ; rosettes subsessile, stem erect, leaves strap- 

 shaped much denticulate-sei-rate, limb of the intermediate leaves 

 decurrent, buds erect, seeds oblong-obovate tubercular. 



E. tetragonum, Linn. Sp. PI. ed. 1. 348; Curt. Fl. Lond. i. &Q 

 (131); Fries, Herb. Nortn. viii. 41 (specimen); Reichenb. Fl. 

 exsic. 357 (specimen); Gre7i. et Godr. Fl. de Fr. i. .579; F. Schultz, 

 Archives de Flore, ii. 51. 



E. adnatum, Griseb. in Bot. Zeit. 1852, p. 854. 



