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peduncles. Leaves setaceous, 1-nerved, with transverse veins ex- 

 tending to the leaf-margin. Spikes short, on slender elongated 

 peduncles. Sepals (perianth-segments) large, pale yellowish green, 

 with white edges, reniform-orbicular. Fruit small (half the size of 

 typical pectmatua, though scarcely ripe on any specimens seen), pale, 

 with scarcely any trace of ridges. Differs from type in colour, 



iy s , • ' ; ' ' . ,. ; * 



the flowers and small size of the fruit, and habit more like P. Mi- 

 formu Nolte. 



,^ P \ L0NGIF0LIUS Bab - ( non Gav ) : Bab - in En 9- Bot - Supp. t. 2847 

 (1810); ,1/,/,. B,it. Bot. ed. 8, p. 382 (1881); Joum. But. InT'J. 

 p. 229; Hooker & Arnott, Brit. FL ed. 8, p. 482 (1860); Syme, 

 Eng. Bot. ed. 3, vol. ix. p. 40 (1869); Fryer, Joum. Bot. 1890, 

 p. 189.— A single specimen, found floating in Lough Corrib, Ireland, 

 by Mr. Ball in 1835, and preserved in Prof. Babington's herbarium 

 at Cambridge. 



This specimen has been some trouble to deal with at all satis- 

 factorily. Prof. Babington at first considered it "nearly allied to 

 P. prasUmgm, but (it) has not the amplexicaul and hood-tipped 

 leaves of that plant." In answer to Dr. Boswell's enquiries, Prof. 

 have n alwa Ti^filo^fot* { ^ the leaves ) ho ? ded ' as 1 

 point, like those of lucens." Judgkfg ^tnTe, B. ^'plate, Dr! 

 Boswell thought it might be a form of pmlongus Wulf. 



I possess a specimen of unmistakable pralongus from Vane, 

 Denmark, m which the leaves are unusually narrow (B. foliis 

 angustioribus, Hooker, Brit. FL ed. 3, p. 77 (1835) ?), and taper off 

 to a rounded end without any of the usual splitting, or cucullate 

 appearance. Also a specimen from the Jura (Lac du Boula, Dr. 

 Magnin), in which the leaves are much like those of the slender 

 branch on Prof. Babington's specimen (not figured in the plate). 

 It was this branch which led me at the first sight of the Cambridge 

 specimen to think of pralongus, forgetting, when doing so, Mr. 

 Fryer's remarks (Joum. Bot. 1. c). From the appearance of the 

 specimen, I have little doubt it had been floating in the water for 

 some days, and this slender shoot had evidently (certainly in part) 

 been produced while detached; this occurs in lanceolatus; I have 

 had it throw out shoots 6 in. long when floating. 



The peduncle is certainly a "crux," being characteristic neither 

 of lucens, prcelongus, nor decipiens; but 1 suspect the floating had 

 unduly inflated it in the upper part, and the decay of the flowers 

 had arrested growth beyond the base of the spike. The specimen 

 was probably broken off by some means when nearly past flower, 

 and hence the abortive appearance the spike presents. 



On the whole, notwithstanding the lucens-like look it presents, 

 I am inclined to think it really may have been a hybrid between 

 lucens and pralongm (I have specimens of both from the same lake) ; 

 which indeed Dr. Ascherson (FL Mark Brandenburg, p. 662 (1864) ) 

 considered P. decipiens to be ; but in this I think he stands alone, 

 and I quite agree with Mr. Fryer that the English Fen plant, as a 

 hybrid, must be lucens x perfoliate. Anyhow, the specimen cannot 



