III. FLORA OF teRlTAlK. 389 



beyond Britain. But against his inclinations, he must 

 still question the reality of any species being peculiar to 

 Britain, unless it be the Neottla gemmipara, above men' 

 tioned. The Dryas depressa, of Ireland, has been before 

 alluded to, on page 38. Its differential characters are so 

 petty, and so likely to be disregarded elsewhere, that no 

 stress can be laid upon this plant, as anything peculiar or 

 distinctive in the flora of our islands. — Helianthemiim 

 Bretveri, of Anglesea, looks distinct enough in the ex- 

 treme form which has been selected to represent the 

 "species"; and the printed characters, adaj)ted to that 

 extreme form, of course convey the same idea. Unfoi-tu- 

 natel}^ among a numerous collection of specimens 

 brought afterwards from Anglesea, very few could be 

 honestly said to correspond with the figure and descrip^ 

 tion ; the greater number of them bearing a suspicious 

 resemblance to weakly plants of H. guttatum. It is be- 

 lieved that the peculiarities which mark and make the 

 extreme form figured for H. Breiveri, wUl admit of 

 physiological explanation ; but, as a fact, such explana- 

 tion would require to be verified on the spot, early in the 

 season ; and on this account it is not stated here. — 

 Geranium lancastriense, found originally on one islet in 

 West England, is usually deemed a variety of G. san- 

 guineum. In the present writer's garden, the individual 

 plants of it have retained their short and compact mode 

 of gi'owth, during many years, while placed under similar 

 conditions alongside the diffusely spreading plants of the 

 typical species to which it is assigned. — In Seduni fors- 

 terianum, of Wales, there is truly much the aspect of 

 a species on a short acquaintance. But the printed 

 characters relied upon for distinguishing it from Sedum 

 rupestre are found to be variable ; being inconstant in S. 

 forsterianum) and occasionally assumed in some degree 



