30 Mr. J. Ball on Odontites rubra, with notice of a new species. 



denser and more uniform inflorescence, and the constantly smaller 

 fruit appear to supply constant characters. The exserted anthers 

 and the shorter floral leaves are sometimes found in O. verna var. 

 elegans above described. I have specimens from Tuscany, Um- 

 bria, Rome and Naples, the latter gathered by myself at the end 

 of September 1845 ; but I have never seen any other than Ita- 

 lian specimens, and the plant appears to be unknown in central 

 Europe. 



In consequence of the confusion that exists as to the identity 

 of the forms which have borne the names Euphrasia serotina, it 

 appears necessary to abandon that specific name, though highly 

 appropriate, and in that case the Italian plant cannot bear a more 

 suitable name than that of the only author who has clearly distin- 

 guished it from its allies. 



Odontites rotundata (n. sp. ?), nobis. 



About ten years ago I received from Professor Henslow a spe- 

 cimen marked Bartsia Odontites ? gathered near the Hague, and 

 about the same time I was favoured with an imperfect specimen 

 gathered on Bepton Common, Sussex, by Miss Plowden, and a 

 specimen marked Cambridgeshire without the name of the col- 

 lector. These plants appeared to me at the time to differ in many 

 respects from the common English plant, but I was unwilling to 

 describe them without a fuller acquaintance with the continental 

 forms. I am now induced with some hesitation to assign to this 

 form a distinct specific name, being unable to identify it with 

 any of the described species. I subjoin a short description : — 



Odontites rotundata. — Stem with numerous elongated branches 

 from near the base, (in my specimens) 6-9 inches in height ; 

 leaves sessile, lanceolate, crenato-serrate, teeth less acute and 

 fewer than in O. verna, floral leaves almost entire, equaling or 

 (in my English specimens) shorter than the flowers ; segments 

 of the calyx one-third of its length, broadly triangular ; corolla 

 rather shorter than in O. verna, upper lip broad, convex, in- 

 cluding the anthers, lower lip with three broadly rounded, nearly 

 equal segments ; filaments nearly glabrous ; anthers transverse 

 with scarcely any glandular hairs; style and stigma nearly 

 glabrous; capsule broadly oval, almost rounded, when ripe 

 longer than the calyx. 



Hab. England and Holland. 



In my specimens the whole plant is less hispid, with a softer 

 pubescence than in O. verna. The form of the calyx and cap- 

 sules, and the nearly glabrous filaments, anthers, style and stigma 

 bring this form near to O. lanceolata, Reich. ; but that plant, of 



