70. URTICACE.E. 371 



982. Parietaria officinalis, Linn. 



Area 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 * 17. 



South limit in Cornwall, Isle of Wight, Kent. 



North limit in Ross i Moray } BanfF, Aberdeen. 



Estimate of provinces 16. Estimate of counties 70. 



Latitude 50 — 58. British (?) type of distribution. 



Agrarian region, Inferagi'arian — Superagi'arian zones. 



Descends to the coast level, in the Peninsula. 



Ascends to 100 or 200 yards, in England. 



Range of mean annual temperature 52 — 47. 



Native. Rupestral, Viatical. Intermediate between the 

 English and British type. By the Rev. George Gordon it 

 is considered " certainly introduced " into Moray. If this 

 view is correct, the county of Ross, on authority of Mr. 

 Smith, in Mr. Gordon's Catalogue, may likewise be dis- 

 trusted. In rejecting Ross and Moray, we should reduce 

 the plant to the two lower zones, thus excluding the super- 

 agi-arian zone ; also discarding the province of North 

 Highlands from its native area, and keeping the species 

 more clearly within the English type of distribution. Some 

 modem botanists subdivide P. officinalis into two separate 

 species ; namely, P. diffiasa, the common English form, 

 and P. electa, which may possibly be different, while I do 

 not at present venture so to treat it. Indeed, I am not in 

 possession of the data which would be requisite for distin- 

 guishing the habitats one from the other of them. Mr. 

 Babington says that P. erecta occurs in Essex, Pembroke, 

 Linlithgow, and Stirling ; and hence it will probably be 

 found in many intermediate counties. 



2 B 2 



