220 BOTANICAL OBSERVATIONS 



the stalk more ligneous, rigid, and upright, and 

 thus it is converted into Polygala monspeliaca. In 

 <iry meadows and poor grass-plots, in woods, the 

 plant generally appears as Polygala vulgaris, 

 though, according to the different quality of the 

 soil, the stalk is either entirely decumbent or v some- 

 what adscending, the root-leaves more or less 

 crowded, opposite or alternate, and it gradually 

 runs both into Polygala amara and monspeliaca, 

 that no limits can be drawn. 



3. Scabiosa Columbaria and ochroleuca L. (S. 

 tenuifolia Roth.) 



I very much doubt whether these plants be dis- 

 tinct species, having seen them in many forms both 

 in the same and in different soils. In good, rather 

 moist ground, the stem is slender and smooth, 

 with long tender branches, and flowers rather 

 nodding ; in a gravelly and stony ground, on the 

 contrary, the plant becomes more rigid, the 

 branches are shorter, and, as well as the stem, 

 more or less rough with hairs, in proportion to the 

 greater or less barrenness of the soil. In the 



