257^ 



AN ADDITIONAL STATION FOR 

 ARENARIA GOTHICA IN WEST YORKSHIRE. 



WILLIAM WHITWELL. 



Yorkshire botanists will be glad to know that there is now con- 

 siderable likelihood of Arenaria gotJiica Fries proving to be native 

 to the county. The Ribblehead Station locality, unsupported by 

 others, is certainly inconclusive. 



But on Monday, August i8th, the plant was gathered l)y 

 Dr. Silvanus P. Thompson and his sister, Miss R. J". Thompson, at 

 a spot three miles distant from Ribblehead, and away from any 

 railway. Further particulars about the locality must be supplied 

 later. Dr. Thompson, in the course of a walk some days before,, 

 noticed a plant which seemed to him to resemble A. gothica, and on 

 the 1 8th instant he revisited the place along with Miss Thompson, 

 l)y whom the characters of the Ribblehead Arenaria were at once 

 recognised in the specimens they collected. Some of these specimens 

 reached and were identified by me, on the 20th, and on the same 

 day Mr. N. E. Brown, of Kew, also examined them. 



The perennial character of the Ribblehead plant has now been 

 placed beyond a doubt. I have received specimens at intervals 

 through the autumn, winter, and spring, so that a whole year's stages 

 have been seen. Plants (transplanted direct from Ribblehead) were, 

 grown by me, and these put forth winter shoots in the same manner 

 as an ordinary Dianthus; unfortunately, the latest frost killed the 

 plants. The winter and spring specimens were mature ones, bearing 

 last year's dead capsules, even after this year's spring flowering had 

 actually commenced. 



With much regret I have to add that the very existence of the 

 plant at Ribblehead is endangered. In September, 1889, Mr. F. A. 

 Lees saw 'hundreds' of plants there. I am told that now there are 

 comparatively few. One friend writes that 'it will not be there 

 through another season.' The explanation is, I fear, to be found in 

 what is said at Ribblehead; 'dozens of collectors have been here this 

 year.' I would ask all botanists to pass a 'self-denying ordinance' 

 and to scrupulously refrain from taking or obtaining specimens for 

 the next two years at least. A similar appeal will be made through 

 the 'Journal of Botany.' 



[We trust that Mr. Whitwell's appeal to collecting botanists will 

 meet with a hearty and universal acceptance, so that so interesting 

 a species may be preserved to the West Yorkshire Flora for many 

 years to come. — Eds. Nat.] 



Sept. [890. K 



