63. POLVGONACE.«. 339 



Ayr, and Argyle. My own attention was first drawn to 

 this plant, as something distinct from P. aviculare, so long 

 ago as the year 1831 ; but being then a very young bota- 

 nist, I thought it sufficient to send specimens of the plant 

 to Sir W. J. Hooker, along with other novelties from the 

 same county of Cornwall ; — all of which were entered either 

 as varieties, or passed by unnoticed, in the next edition of 

 his British Flora. Subsequently, when I began to exa- 

 mine dubious plants myself, instead of appealing to esta- 

 blished authorities, my difficulty was to distinguish satis- 

 factorily between P. Rail and P. maritimum, rather than 

 between P. Raii and P. aviculare. But cultivation of them 

 for a few years, with the examination of specimens from se- 

 veral different localities, leaves me satisfied that P. Raii is 

 hereditarily distinct from both the others. See Phytologist 

 ii. 615. 



^ri^' n( ^ (*0f. 940. Polygonum maritimum, Linn. 



Area * 2. 



South limit in Hants. 

 North limit in the same county. 

 Estimate of provinces 1. Estimate of counties 1. 

 i|a^ude 50 — 51. Local (Engl.) type of distribution. 

 jan region. Inferagrarian zone, 

 ads to the eoast level, in the Channel, 

 [fcends : — at the coast level only. 

 Range of mean annual temperature 51. 

 Native. Littoral. First found by Mr. Borrer, on the 

 sandy shore between Christchurch Head and Muddiford, 

 in the west of Hants. Several other habitats have been 

 reported for so-called " P. maritimum," in England and 

 Scotland, as well as one or more in L'eland ; but probably 



z -2 



