68 ON SOME BRITISH VIOLA FORMS, 



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V. odorata x hirta. — Prof. Wiesbaur informs me that the 



German botanists refer to this hybrid both V. permixta Jord. and 

 V. sepincola Jord. There seems to be no doubt that this is correct 

 so far as the first-named plant is concerned. Prof. Wiesbaur, 

 however, mentions that he has seen French specimens, freely 

 fruiting, named V. sepincola Jord. I possess similar specimens 

 which are certainly not referable to this hybrid, and seem probably 

 only varietally distinct from V. odorata. Mr. H. C. Watson's 

 Ealing plant, about which a good deal was written some time 

 since, is, I think, the same as this French sepincola. I have seen 

 no other British specimens which I should refer to this form ; the 

 Merstham plant distributed by me some years ago as "sepincola" 

 was wrongly named, and is merely a dark-flowered form of V. 



odorata x hirta. 



V. hirta L. — As indicated above, this is a very variable species 

 in Britain. Taking the English Botany plate as representing our 

 type, with a nearly concolorous flower, we find a striking deviation 

 in some of our Surrey plants ; in the form referred to, the flower 

 has a very large white eye, while the stipules seem to be a good 

 deal more hispid. I am not yet satisfied, however, that these two 

 characters are always co-existent ; should they prove to be so, the 

 plant will deserve a varietal name. 



Var. calcarea Bab. — Judging by the plants cultivated by Watson 

 and myself, this form does not revert to the type. I believe it to 

 be a variety, and not a mere state due to situation. 



Var. glabrata mihi. — I propose this name to represent the plant 

 found by the late Bev. W. W. Newbould, and named by him, M V. 

 hirta, foliis oblongis, capsida glabra ," and referred to in Bab. Man. as 

 " V. sciaphila Koch?" After searching in vain for V. sciaphila at 

 Horlton, I applied to Prof. Babington, who very generously lent me 

 the only existing specimens of Mr. Newbould's plant. I saw at 

 once that it was not V. sciaphila Koch, and that it differed from 

 ordinary V. hirta only in its totally glabrous capsule, an opinion in 

 which I understand Prof. Babington now to concur. I have not 

 seen this form from any other locality, though we have one in 

 Surrey which comes very near it. In the Surrey form the capsule 

 is glabrous, with the exception of a hairy zone round the base of 

 the style. I may mention that in V. sciaphila Koch the leaves are 

 shaped almost exactly as in V. mirabilis, so that it cannot very well 

 be mistaken for any form of V. hirta. 



I am indebted to Mr. F. J. Hanbury for lending me the Violets 

 contained in Syme's herbarium. They include a remarkable form 

 of V. hirta from Gosford Links, Haddington ; this, and the Bev. 

 H. E. Fox's plant from sand-hills, Northumberland, probably 

 deserve cultivation and careful study. 



