202 On the British Species 



In this plant the petals are about half the length of the calyx, and 

 the stems are very short and spreading, but it agrees exactly with 

 the specific characters of C. semidecandrum. On the same root of 

 this Yarmouth plant I have noticed flowers with 4 and 5 sepals, 

 and Mr Ball informs me, that although flowers with 4 sepals and 

 4 stamens were far the most common, yet that he noticed many 

 cases of the presence of 5 sepals and 5 stamens, I am quite convin- 

 ced that no confidence whatever can be placed upon the number of 

 those parts in this genus. I have therefore omitted them altogether 

 in my specific characters. Under these circumstances I shall only 

 mention the station from which my specimens of this plant were 

 obtained by the kindness of Mr R. B, Bowman of Newcastle, 

 namely, Tynemouth, Northumberland. " May — June." 



B. Grandiflori, Fries, The petals twice as long as the calyx. 

 6. C. alpinum, Linn. — Hairy, the stems ascending, leaves ovate, 



ovate-oblong or lanceolate, flowers few, sepals bluntish, with their 

 margins membranous, bracteae wholly herbaceous, or with a narrow 

 membranous margin, capsule at length twice as long as the calyx. 



C. alpinum, Bentham in Lind. Si/n. 51. 



a. Linnceaiium, smooth, or clothed with long silky hairs, stem 

 mostly simple, floaters 1,2, or 3, together in a forked panicle, 

 bractese slightly membranous at the margin. 



C. alpinum, Linn. 628. Sm. Eng. Bot. t. 472. Sm. Eng. Fl. ii. 

 333. Hooker, 217, S^c. 



C. latifolium, Lightf. Fl. Scot. 242. t. 10. 



(3. piloso-pubescens, Benth. Rough with short bristly hairs, stem 

 branched, flowers usually solitary, bractese often wanting, but when 

 present wanting the membranous margin. 



C. latifolium, Sm. Eng. Bot. t. 473. Sm. Eng. Fl. ii. 334. 

 Hooker, 217- 



Root strong, creeping, stems mostly erect in var. a, prostrate in 

 var. /S, usually clothed vith spreading hairs. Leaves ovate, varying 

 through all the intermediate forms to lanceolate, placed rather closely 

 upon the stem in var. /3, much more distantly in var. a. Flowers 

 few in number, either solitary or in a dichotomous panicle, upon 

 long stalks. Sepals ovate, with a membranous margin, bluntish, 

 more so in var. /3 than a. Petals white, nearly three times as long 

 as the calyx. Bracteae lanceolate, acute, with a slight membranous 

 margin, usually present in var. a, frequently wanting, and with the 

 margin scarcely at all membranous in var. /3. " Capsule oblong, 

 cylindrical ; when ripe about twice as long as the calyx." Benth. 



I have been unable to detect any permanent character to distin- 



