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A NEW SILENE FROM TENERIFFE. 

 By Frederic N. Williams, F.L.S. 



Silene brevistipes, n. sp. [§ Eusilene, Sect. I. Cincinnosilene, 

 Ser. 2, Scorpioideai] . Caules 35-40 centim., simplices vel parce 

 ramosi, centralis erectus, laterales adscendentes, pilis crispuh's 

 vestiti. Folia oblanceolato-spatlmlata mucronata puberula parce 

 ciliata, basi in petiolum attenuata, apice rotundata, superiora 

 angustiora, omnia uninervia ; bractese lineari-lanceolatae acuta? 

 lanusinoso-ciliatse. Flores breviter pedicellati. Calyx tubulosus 

 inferne haud umbilicatus, fructifer ampliato-ovoideus apice con- 

 tractus infra capsulam vix attenuatus, nervis viridibus superne 

 vena" unica conjunctis pilis longis confervoideis patentibus vestitis 

 inter nervos autem scabrido-pubescentibus, dentibus lanceolatis 

 acuminatis albo-marginatis ciliatis. Petala e calyce exserta bi- 

 partita lobis lineari-oblongis. Filamenta glabra. Capsula ovata 

 subsessilis, carpopborum glabrum multies superans. Semina reni- 

 formia valde compressa, faciebus concaviuscula, dorso acute canali- 

 culata marginibus plus minus undulatis. 



Hab. Near Laguna, Teneriffe {IUr. R. P. Murray, June, 1892). 



In systematic position this species comes nearest to 8. Maroc- 

 cana* from which it primarily differs in the fructiferous calyx 

 being contracted at the mouth. On the other hand, the secondary 

 characters by which S. Maroccana is distinguished from our plant 

 are, — leaves acute, much narrower and more hairy; bracts hispid 

 ciliate, not lanuginous at the margin ; nerves of the calyx villous, 

 but nearly glabrous between the nerves ; teeth acute, not acumi- 

 nate ; lobes of the petals much narrower ; and carpophore relatively 

 longer, and invested with a few short scattered hairs. Among the 

 species described in Rohrbach's Monograph, it seems most nearly 

 allied to S. setacea\ and S. I 7w \lrridii 7 ,\ but differs in many points 

 from both. Excepting the distinctive character of the seeds, the 

 plant resembles some forms of S. gallica in the subsessile capsule 

 and the long confervoid hairs along the nerves of the calyx, and in 

 its general facies. 



I have to thank the Rev. R. P. Murray, who is engaged upon a 

 much-needed flora of the Canary Islands, for the specimens from 

 which this plant is described, which were included in a small packet 

 of specimens of Silene gathered by him during his stay, and sent for 

 identification. I have failed to match it with specimens of the 

 other species known from the Canary Islands and the adjacent 

 territory of Marocco, nor does it fit in with any description in 

 Rohrbach's Monograph. The specific name is derived from the 

 character of the short carpophore ; and though the maze of synonyms 

 and homonyms in an overgrown genus like Silene is sufficiently 

 bewildering, I do not think that it has been used before. 



* Cosson, Illmtr. Fl. Atlant. fasc. iv. p. 130, t. 85 (1890). 

 t Viviani, Fl. Libyc. Spec. p. 23, t. 12 (1824). 



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