(10) h. Nim. REVISION OF mi. GENUS CHELIDONIUM. 579 



would be impossible to deny specific rank to the plannt, lu Szechuen 

 however ail the characters break down and we find in thaï province 

 plants intermediate in everj respect between C. grandifiorum and 

 C. majus. Similarly intermediate are certain forms from Japan, where 

 G. majus does not as in Europe Vary in the direction of evolving a new 

 type but seems to vary in the direction of a reversa] to its ancestral 

 condition. For there is no doubt that in the area indicated above 

 (Soongaria, Dahuria, Mongolia) C. grandifiorum is a truly wild species, 

 and it is extremely probable that we see in this form the original stock 

 from which the plant known in Europe as the « Greater Celandine » 

 lias been derived. Indeed the existence in the Herbaria of Kew and 

 Paris ot'all the necessary intermediates from Szechuen and Central 

 China demonstratio the transition almost with certainty. 



The occasional record of C. grandifiorum from European localities 

 must be discounted; hitherto, at ail events, no example of the true 

 Mongolian C. grandifiorum has been fourni in Europe; all the European 

 spécimens issued under the name are no more than luxuriant states 

 of C. majus. In C. grandifiorum the flowers though usually larger than 

 those of C. majus are by no means always so; though C. grandifiorum 

 is always puberulous this is notdistinctive, since at times we encounter 

 puberulous forms of C. majus; finally we sometimes meet in Europe 

 with examples of C. majus that hâve large obtuse bracts. It will thns 

 be seen that, even if the séries of distinct intermediates reported from 

 Szechuen did not exist, it would still be difficult to separate C. gran- 

 difiorum and C. majus as unequivocal species. 



We find in Cis-baicalia that the true C. majus occurs; its présence 

 therefore in a région immediately to the north and west of the area 

 occupied by the « sylvestrian » form of the species, perhaps indicates 

 that the « civilized » form with which we are familiär in Europe was 

 independently evolved on both sides of its original area. But there are 

 absolutely no intermediate forms from Siberian localities and it is 

 perhaps more probable that. after having been evolved from C.grandi- 

 fiorum in Central China, the « Celandine », having found its way 

 northwards to Manchuria. then spréad westward to South Siberia 

 simultaneously with its passage eastward to Japan. 



The fiirther ])rogress westwarrl from Siberia of C. majus is. I believe, 

 indicated by its distribution. That it is only introduced from Europe 

 in North America is admitted by ail authors: indeed the date of intro- 

 duction lias been dcfmitely. and probably accurately, assigned to the 



