176 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
scsi very small and in form subrotund-ovate, 7.e. broadest not 
above, but about, or a little below, the middle. In the immature 
examples the apex is distinctly acute ; in the riper ones rather less 
so, but ee far from the rounded or almost truncate form 
found in F. Bor 
As a Br itish ¢ Scinsed the first trace of I’. muralis is to be found, 
I believe, in Babington’s paper of 1859, which has been so often 
quoted, where, after attention has been drawn to the smallness of 
the flowers and the ic profile of the fruits, the species is 
diagnosed as follows, viz. :— 
epalis ovatis ne basi dentatis tubi corolle latitudinem 
subsequantibus eodemque 3 brevioribus, fructibus obovato-compressis 
apice rotundatis parvis sublevibus, basi fructus lata obconica pedi- 
celli apice paulo angustiore, bracteis pedicellos floriferos equantibus 
fructiferis es patentibus brevioribus, racemis evolutis laxis brevi- 
bus pauciflori 
It will “ ‘once be seen, on comparing the two diagnoses of 
F. muralis, that they are quite at variance respecting the form of 
the fruit, which has been shown to be the plant’s most important 
specific charac ter. Babington, who has Pa followed by other 
British authors, says it is obovate-compressed instead of subrotund- 
ovate, as in the original description; and in this respect, conse- 
quently, his plant would appear to resemble F’. Borei, rather than 
the species of Sonder with which it has been identified. 
Although Boreau and other authors have mentioned the variable- 
ness of F’. Borai, no distinct se appear to have been established 
prior to the year 1882, when Clavaud, in his Flore de la Gironde, 
described three varietal akin two of which seem to a coincide 
with the plant described a Babington as fF’, muralis 
ne 0 “1 these two forms, F’. Borai 3 nuraliformis, is is fae rf! 
Clavaud in the ieildwings detailed terms :—‘‘ Forme notable 
gr 
les j jens fleurs. Fruit du F. ested eecbhdie: globuleux, trés 
ai : 
r 
fait le port du F. muralis — ‘mais elle en différe par son fruit 
ou siuscule,’ comme ih eit dit du F’. muralis 
The second of Clavaud’s varieties, y serotina, is less fully de- 
scribed, the author merely noting: “Forme tardive, 4 tige plus 
indiees et plus gréle. Fleurs plus eae et ie pales que dans le 
type, 4 sépales ordinairement plus pet 
Rouy & Foucaud do not sia Se Tiss varieties, except that 
Clavaud’s name, Sanvelifortds has rather strangely been adopted 
as a synonym of F’, muralis Sond. (vera), from which the author so 
— distinguished it; the French collaborateurs taking the 
w that, in spite of the difference i in the fruit, the two plants are 
ideintidal and distinct from F’. Borei Jord. It has been shown = t 
