68 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
type-specimens in Babington’s herbarium at Cambridge, and find 
that they are wooly with our Somerset plants. 
. calearea was looked upon a thsi as essentially a Cambridge- 
shire plant, growing a on the Gogm 2808 Hills, and was there 
recognized by Babington, who, a Bhs ough, gave no adequate 
description of the plant in his Manual. The characters he mentions 
e minor ones, and do not touch the plant’s main features. Syme 
ae of it, ‘‘A curious state of this species’’ (hirta) ; Hooker calls 
it “a dwarf, starved form, with petals narrower.” Beeby says 
(Journ. Bot, 1892, p. 68), ‘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 @ mere state due to situation.” (Italics 
mine.) 
igi the concurrence of is “rari and convinced by my 
own investigations, I would n o further and claim for Viola 
sane: ea specific rank, A dagotiption of the plant follows :— 
Viola calcarea (pro specie). 
Viola hirta L. var. calcarea Bab. 
Stolonibus destituta, radice ramosa, ramis lignosis crassis, foliis 
parvis ovatis vel oblongo-ovatis cordatis pilosis, pedunculis foltis 
multo Lagiorsbus, sepalis sioniios ovatis, petalis angustis (superis 
quattuor inusitate compositis, forma erucis decussa ate) calcare vix 
viso "Sram recto conico. In pratis siccis et collibus calcareis. 
‘lores parvissimi violacei vel sea cei, ne eodem colore 
& -s gay sma violet, or mauve, with throat of the same 
tint. Leaves (after fowsring) enlarging but little. 
ere is a small fo hirta which has doubtless been some- 
times taken for calcarea. The two plants (V. calcarea and the small 
0 
flowers are concerned, are at first sight indistinguishable. On 
examination, however, one finds in the hirta form hairy petioles, 
and a much longer os distinctly hooked spur; while the calcarea 
plant has a straight, almost imperceptible spur (its most strongly- 
marked characteristic), and its surface might almost be termed 
glabrate. A flower of V. hirta is figured for comparison 
specimens of V. calcarea from three localities :—Eastwear Bay, 
Folkestone (Rev. G. E. Smith in Mrs. pb mrs 8 gases 
‘‘Downs near St. Margaret’s, E. Kent, May 8 ” (Rev. 
E. S. Marshall); and “Boxhill, in i turf, April 6, 1861” 
(H. Trimen). 
