1896.] D. Praiii — Some additional Fiuntivmcede. 21. 



kestan with flowers tbat, though much smaller, a good deal resemble those of 

 C. macrocentra. 



Tliat the species of the opposite leaved group do not essentially differ from the 

 bulbous-rooted Corydalis with alternate leaves, is evident from tlie fact that occasion- 

 ally the leaves (as already pointed out by M. de Candolle for C. rutaefolia) may be 

 sub-opposite only. Moreover even wlien patently opposite not infrequently one of 

 the leaves exceeds tlie other in size and then it is very usual to find, especially ia 

 C. diphylla and in C. macrocentra, in the axil of the larger leaf a branch that may be 

 a leafy shoot only or may be an inflorescence. Sometimes branches occur in the 

 axils of both leaves ; this however is rare : more rare still is it to find that these two 

 branches alone are present, the central axis remaining undeveloped. 



4. ( — .) Corydalis alpestris G. A. Mey. Verzeichn. Pfl. Cauc. 

 176 (1831) ; leaves alternate 3-sect segments all sessile deeply 3-sect, 

 lobes oblong mucronulate entire or 2-3- toothed mucronulate ; raceme 

 few-fid., flowers close-set, bracts ovate- acute entire equalling the pedicels, 

 outer petals shorter than the much- upturned obtuse sliglitly incurved 

 spur. Ledeh. Flor. Boss. i. 98 (1842). Corydalis pauciflora VAR. parvi- 

 flora Begel, Bull Soc. Mosc. xxxiv. 136 (1861) ; Boiss. Flor. Orient, i. 131 

 (1867). C. pauciflora var latiloba Maxim. Flor. Tangut. 38, t. 24 (1889). 

 Kashmir: Musjid Valley, 13-14,000 feet, Buthie i\. 13238! Distrib. 

 Caucasus and {fide Hegel) eastward to Kamtschatka and Alaska. 



Eootstock a short solid conical scaly tuber dividing below ; stems l|-4 in., not or 

 hardly longer than the 2-^4 scattered cauline leaves in the axils of which arise small 

 leafy shoots, and with 2-3 lanceolate scales between tuber and lowest leaf; petioles 

 2-3 in., blades f in. diatn., segments J-| in. lobules i in. wide ; radical leaves 1-2 

 similar to cauline but smaller ; bracts i in. long J in. wide ; flowers f in. long. 



A very interesting addition to the Indian Flora, one of the results of Mr. 

 Duthie's journey of 1893. By Dr. Kegel, M. Boissier, and Mr. Maximowicz, Dr. 

 Meyer's species has been reduced to C. 'pauciflora Pers. \_Synops. ii. 269 (1807)]. 

 But there is little doubt that Dr. Meyer and Mr. Ledebonr were justified in treating 

 this fis a species. There are tangible differences in the flowers and in the leaves 

 — differences which both Kegel and Boissier admit ; even however if these possessed 

 but the trivial value assigned tlie>n, there remains the character of axillary branches, 

 which, though neglected by Ledebour and Kegel, nevertheless exists in the 

 Caucasus specimens of the plant presented to Herb. Calcutta by Dr. Kadde, and 

 is also figured and commented on by Mr. Maximowicz. Other alternate-leaved species 

 of CorydalU (§ Capnites) have it is true the normally simple stems casually branch- 

 ed. But in the writer's experience not only is branching in these species a purely 

 occastonal feature, the branches when they occur appear not in the axils of the leaves 

 as in C. alpestris, but in the axils of the leaf-scales below the lowest stem-leaf. 



That C. pan -iflora var. latiloha Maxim, and C. pauciflora var. parviflora 

 Ke^el differ as varieties, the writer quite believes. He believes further that the 

 present plant might perhaps to be considered varietally distinct from both. But 

 while this is the case, he is convinced thsit all three are to be considered " varieties " 

 of one species, C. alpestris, which it is much better to separate from C. pauciflora, 

 and which is well characteri>ed by the presence of leafy shoots in its axils. 



The true C. pauciflora has been very excellently figured by Ledebour in Ic. PI. 



