﻿2H9 



ON AN APPARENTLY UNDESCRIBED COCHLEARIA 

 FROM SCOTLAND. 

 By the Rev. E. S. Marshall, M.A., F.L.S. 

 (Plates 845, 846.) 

 Cochlearia micacea, n. sp. — Root perennial, the somewhat 

 thick and woody rootstock usually showing above ground for half an 

 inch or more in adult specimens, scarred with the marks of former 

 leaves. Foliage deep glossy green, subcoriaceons. Root-leaves of 

 the seedling plant subentire, with a shallow cordate base; those of 

 the flowering plant usually small in. across), flat or slightly 

 concave, with few and inconspicuous veins, on very slender chan- 

 nelled petioles ($-1 in. long), orbicular- or somewhat deltoid- 

 reniform, entire or slightly denticulate : in cultivation, especially 

 towards autumn, they are frequently much larger, more angular, 

 the petioles often attaining a length of 2| in. Stem-leaves more or 

 less toothed and angled (as in G. danica) ; lower petioled, often 

 considerably exceeding the root-leaves in size, upper sessile, am- 

 plexicaul ; auricles small, acute, or none. Very floriferous, in its 

 early stages often forming a dense cushion of blossoms, under 

 cultivation. Flowering-stems many, simple or branched, at first 

 short and compact, bat quickly elongating, erect or ascending. 

 Petals large and showy for the size of the plant, pure white ; limb 

 oblong, twice as long as broad, abruptly narrowed into a claw of 

 about half its length. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, hooded, subobtuse, 

 externally reddish- tipped, showing very prominently between the 

 petals, owing to their long claw. Fruiting racemes often very long. 

 Pods without raised reticulate veins when ripe, narrowed at both 

 ends, varying from broadly ovate-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, in 

 the longer form often somewhat flattened on the inner surface (so 

 as to appear falcate or "jujube-shaped"), borne on patent or 

 ascending pedicels of about their own length ; style distinct, mode- 

 rately long. Septum not fenestrate. Seeds 2-6 in a pod (usually 4), 

 large, dark brown, broadly ovate, with short, rounded tubercles or 



^^HaHtat:— Ben Lawers, Perthshire, from 8500 to 8700 ft. ; Am 

 Binnein, Perthshire, from 3200 to 8500 ft.; Ben Dothaidh, Argyle, 

 above 3000 ft. 



Syn. — C. conferta mihi, in sched. 



I have discarded the name of conferta, as being perhaps equally 

 applicable to other species (e. g. C. alpina Watson), and have sub- 

 stituted that of micacea, since the plant above described has as yet 

 only been detected on micaceous debris near the summits of some 

 of the higher Breadalbane hills. In all three stations it grows in 

 company with Gerastium areticum Lange, and may be presumed to 

 belong to a dying-out arctic vegetation. 



I have as yet seen no examples in our national herbaria or in 

 those of my friends which seem to be this, with the exception of a 

 plant in H. C. Watson's collection at Kew, among his set of alpina, 



Journal of Botany.— Vol. 32. [Oct. 1894.] u 



