PRODROMUS FLORA BRITANNICZ 29 
Of Digitalis purpurea L., Mr. Williams writes: “ Never found 
on limestone. Where hills of limestone and gritstone dip into 
each other, the absence or presence of this plant is an infallible 
index to the character of the immediate substratum.” It has 
been long ago stated that the foxglove is entirely absent from the 
county of Cambridge: see Babington, Fl. Cambs, 317 (1860) ; 
and W. West, in Journ. Bot. 1898 216, 
he genus Huphrasia occupies nearly seventeen pages; nine 
species are recognised and des i ” number which is midway 
between the original single species, H. officinalis L., former 
given in British floras, and the seventeen (sub-) Species ee 
have been during recent years suggested as occurring in Gre 
Britain and Ireland. 
The genus Odontites Hall. has two species assigned to it, 
namely, O. rubra Gilib. and O. littoralis Nyman; the latter is 
distinguished from the former by its simple stem, ovate-lanceolate 
leaves, broadly lanceolate and obtuse calyx-segments, and exserted 
capsules. The references given in the Index Kewensis and by all 
other authors are said to be in ncorrec 
these will be ¢ sidered i ina a separate note. 
The genera : Orobantha Tourn. and Lathrea L. Mr. Williams 
places in the family Gesneriacee, adding the remark: “I follow 
Kichler, Goebel, Warming, and Pfitzer (1902), in regarding the 
Orobanchezx as a degenerate group of torrets (by parasitism) 
rather than as a distinct family.” e species O. ramosa L. is 
crt it ecg been long ago ‘epoca as ededibeiule in the 
in the British list. The species of broomrape ae are 
admitted are—O. purpurea Jacq., O. vulgaris Poiret (= O. caryo- 
phyllea of some authors), O. major L. (= O. elatior eerie id 0. 
Stephen (= O. rubra Sm.), O. reticulata Wallr., O. taal 
Thuill., O. —— F. W. Schultz, O. barbata Poiret Ame 0, mr 
Sm.), and O. hedere Vaucher. 
In his prefatory note on the = oper of this part Mr Mr. Williams 
implicitly justifies his ignorin Vienna Teommendation of 
the us : of capital i initials for od genrio mes, HoH 
acta eect tate asershe 
