a 



CEPHALANTHERA LONGIFOLIA 241 



S. latifolium first appears in Miller's Gardeners Dictionary ed. 8, 

 with the diagnosis " buibis fibrosis, nectari labio quinquefido clauso, 

 foliis lanceolatis nervosis amplexicaulibus," followed by the syno- 

 nym " Helleborine latifolia, flore albo clauso. Raii Syn. [ed.] 2, 

 242/' and the locality "discovered first in Hertfordshire."* In 

 his English description Miller, as Mr. Druce points out, refers to 

 the "spear-shaped veined leaves M and the " loose spike of white 

 flowers " ; this, with the absence of any reference to emifolia, 

 probably led him to the conclusion that that plant was intended. 

 Against these, however, must be set the " flore albo clauso M of Ray 

 and the "shut" flower of Miller, and the latter's remark — " There 

 are some other species of this genus which grow naturally in Great 

 Britain and Ireland, but as I have not had the good fortune to 

 meet with them, I shall not trouble the reader with an imperfect 

 account of them from books." It is practically certain that en&i- 

 fulia was known to Miller by description, for that plant stands in 

 Ray next to his " Helleborine latifolia flore albo clauso," as 

 H. foliis prselongis angustis acutis " — an admirable descriptive 

 phrase, unmistakeably characterizing a plant which under no cir- 

 cumstances could accurately be called latifolia. 



A further difficulty is suggested by the locality, for C. emifolia 

 is not known to be a Hertfordshire plant. It was first recorded as 

 such in R. Syn. ed. 2, 242 : " eandem nuper accepi a D. Eales in 

 Hartfordia inventam lf ; this is quoted in the Flora Hertford iensis 

 (where, by the way, the Diggeswell plant is rightly referred to 

 0. grandiflora) , and another locality, " Handpost farm, Hemel 

 Hempstead," is given on the authority of a Mr. Hamilton, but is 

 stated to require confirmation, which it never received. The entry 

 " Herts" in Top. Bot. is, as Watson's MSS. show, based only on 

 FL Hertf. In the Flora of Hertfordshire these two records are 

 combined in an extraordinary manner, — thus : " Handpost Farm, 

 Hemel Hempstead ; Eales, Gibson's Camden, 326 " ; and it is stated 

 that search for the plant proved vain, though Ophrys mitscifera had 



been found in the locality. 



What, then, was Serapias latifolia Mill. ? This can hardly be 

 doubtful. In R. Syn. ed. 3, 384, the words " eadem cum priore " 

 [C.grandittora] are added to the description of " H. latifolia flore 

 albo clauso/' and it would seem that Mr. Druce himself has until 

 now accepted that verdict, for in his identification of the plants of 

 the Synopsis (see The Dillenian Herbaria, p. 115) he passes this by 

 without comment, rightly assigning the name emifolia to "H. foliis 

 pr&longis angustis acntis." Any doubt on the matter, however, is 

 finally set at rest by Miller's own specimens, bearing his descrip- 

 tion in his own hand : these specimens, which we did not see until 

 most of the foregoing note had been written, are unmistakeably 

 C.yrandiflora, under which they are correctly placed in the National 



i» 



Herbarium. 



Ed. Journ. Bot. 



* The reference is to R. Syn. ed. 2, 242 ; " Found by Dr. Eales near Digges 

 Well in Hertfordshire. " 



