160 
Lyonn. (at least so far as regards the plant 
of Mount Pilatus). Finally, I unite with 
it, as not possessing sufficiently discrimi- 
nating characters, the V. Orcades, Marsch., 
and of Ging. in De Cand. Prodr., as well 
as the V. declinata, Gaud. Fl. Helv. and 
V. tricolor, 3. declinata, Ging. l c. — 
These various synonyms belong to the 
several forms which are dispersed through- 
out Europe, from Scotland to Calabria, 
from the Pyrenées to the Riesengebirge 
and the Mountains of the Crimea. Som 
grow on the plains, others at a consider- 
able elevation on the mountains. They 
have not all the same aspect, but it is im- 
possible to make of them more than one 
species, when there are sufficiently good 
specimens for exàmination. All have a 
perfectly perennial root, stiff and filiform 
stems which are naked below, and stipules 
whose larger and constantly quite entire 
lobe never assumes an elliptical or an oval 
form. It is in this respect, alone, that V. 
grandiflora differs from V. tricolor and 
hispida, with which it possesses in other 
points a great affinity, because of its gene- 
rally elongated stems, distinct knots and 
stipules, which are deeply pinnatifid at 
their base. The V. grandiflora varies to 
an unlimited degree in other respects; the 
stems may be more or less elongated, up- 
right or ascending, or prostrate, few or 
much tufted, simple or (as in the V. decli- 
nata, Gaud.) branched, glabrous or his- 
pid:—in having the upper leaves some- 
times oval, sometimes oblong, sometimes 
lanceolate; in its flowers, of which the dia- 
meter yaries from six to eighteen lines ; 
by its petals being sometimes very broad, 
sometimes very narrow, either all yellow, 
all purple or lilac, or mixed of both hues ; 
the lower petal being occasionally slightly 
rounded, or sometimes truncate or retuse, 
and distinctly notched ; in its spur being 
Straight or accidentally hooked, stiff and 
pointed, or dilated and obtuse, scarcely 
exceeding the calycine appendages, or al- 
most equalling, in length, the petal which 
@ 
produces it, being from two to six lines belo: 
randiflora dot edm oc NE 
nticu- ginning of the month of June 
A s eee d 
ciliated, entire or occasionally de 
BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
late. 
wherever V. grandiflora grows; but itis 
especially in Auvergne, and on the moun- 
tains of the Lozère and on the Pyrenees, 
that I have seen the spur passing from ex- 
treme smallness (the general habit of V. 
grandiflora) to an extraordinary length. 
The Pyrenean plant always forms a thick 
herbage; its stems are numerous, simple, 
prostrate or ascending, and hairy above, 
as well as the foliage; the flowers are 
never yellow, and the spur, which is con- 
stantly stiff, is neither dilated nor hooked 
at the extremity. I may be allowed to 
insist on these peculiarities, trifling as 
they are in themselves, because more than 
a hundred Pyrenean specimens are before 
my eyes at the very time when I write 
this description. Some come from the 
Mountain Batera, in the Canton of Arles, 
where La Peyrouse found the V. hispida ; 
others from the port of Peyresourde, be- 
tween the Valley of Aure and that of Lu- 
chon, the locality cited by La Peyrouse 
for his V. Cenisia, y. The greater part 
were gathered by M. Xatart, in the terri- 
tory of Prats de Mollo, in the place called 
the Solana de la Martra, where the V. 
cornuta is said to have been found. These 
habitats are interesting, as they show that 
La Peyrouse has made three species out 
of the specimens of one, a fact confirmed 
by M. Xatart, from whom alone M. La 
Peyrouse had received the plant from Ba- 
tera, and’ that from Solana de la Martra. 
To the synonym of V. grandiflora, which 
I have cited above, must therefore be 
added the V. Cenisia, y. La Peyr., (quoad 
montem Peyresourde); the V. cornuta, 
La Peyr. ib.; (quoad la Solana de la 
Martra); V. hispida, La Peyr, and V. 
calcarata, £. decipiens, Ging. in De Can 
som I cannot explain how M. de Gin- 
an have referred this latter plant, 
(the Y. hispida, Lap.) to V. calcarata, 
differing essentially as it does by its much - 
cut stipules. As for the rest, all the local- 
ities of which I have just been speaking; 
long to the subalpine region:—the F- 
Most of these varieties may be seen 
TS 
Se a 
