846 
upper leaves and bracts of E. scotica which are narrower than those 
of E. minima and have a cuneate base.« I have examined many 
hundred specimens of E. scotica from Scotland, Shetland and the 
Fxröes and have compared them with many specimens of E. minima 
both from the Alps and from Scandinavia, and I can not find any 
distinction which holds good. I feel pretty sure, that the Scottish 
etc. plant is identical with true E. minima. Townsend who has seen 
a good deal of my Færoese material, has determined many speci- 
mens with capsules exceeding the calyx as E. scolica, specimens 
which are quite like the typical E. minima from the Alps. 
As pointed out by R. Wettstein (l.c. p.159) E. minima varies 
much with regard to the colour of the corolla; the true E. scotica 
represents a form with pale or whitish flowers (f. pallida Gremli), 
but from this we find all possible variations of colour until a form 
with dark purple corolla (f. purpurascens Wettst. 1. c. p. 159). The 
main form is very common in the Ferées, and also the purple- 
flowered form occurs frequently in the Færoese heaths; it is the 
same form which has been described as E. foulaénsis Towns. apud 
Wettstein (l.c. p. 139). I have examined Mr. W.H. Beeby’s speci- 
mens from Hamnafeld on Foula, Shetland, upon which F. Town- 
send has made his description, and they are, after my opinion, 
only rather coarse, unbranched E. minima with dark purple corol- 
las and long capsules; the specimens were found among heather and 
this explains their somewhat flexuose stem. Both Wettstein (I. c. 
p.140) and Townsend (Monograph, p. 423) compare it with E. lati- 
folia Pursh; but it is easily distinguised from it by its nearly glabrous 
leaves; common to both forms are the obtuse teeth of the leaves 
and bracts. 
The same form has been described in 1870 by E. Rostrup 
(Færôernes Flora, p. 48) as E. gracilis, f. atropurpurea Rostr., which 
consequently is the name to be used. I have seen Rostrup’s speci- 
mens (from Hestö) and found them almost identical with Beeby’s 
specimens of E. foulaënsis. 
The synonymy of the form is then as follows: 
E. minima Jacq., f. atropurpurea (Rostr. sub E. gracili); E. minima, 
f. purpurascens Wettst., Monographie, p. 159; E. Foulaénsis Towns. ap. 
Wettstein, 1. c. p. 139; Townsend, Journ. of Botany, 1897, p. 422; 
E. atropurpurea (Rostr.) Ostenfeld, Bot. Feerées, I, p. 55; E. gracilis Fr., 
f. atropurpurea Rostrup, Faeröernes Flora, Bot. Tids., IV, 1870, p. 48. 
E. gracilis Fr. is distinguished from it by its slender, erect, often 
