SHORT NOTES 229 



from the Sierra de Baza, of which there are two sets at Kew. 

 They disagree much more than A. j^urpureiis with the Linnean 

 account of hypoglottis, principally because the fruiting-head falls 

 short of the leaves, the legumes are only sparingly pubescent, and 

 the resemblance to A. j^entaglottis is more remote. There is, 

 moreover, a fatal objection to this species, which also applies to 

 A. granatensis. There is not a scrap of evidence that Linnaeus 

 was acquainted with either ; not a trace of them under any name 

 in his herbarium, or in that of Cliffort. It is exceedingly 

 improbable that he should have known them, as both are rarish 

 plants, inhabiting mountain ranges which had not been explored 

 in Linnseus's day. 



We may therefore conclude that Astragahcs hypoglottis L. 

 cannot possibly be either A. danicus or A. asperulus, and that it 

 almost certainly is A. j^urpicreus Lam., because (1) it grows in 

 Spain ; (2) it is the species which in flower most nearly resembles 

 A. pentaglottis; (3) it tallies fairly, though not perfectly, with the 

 Linnean description ; (4) it is represented in the Linnean her- 

 barium by a specimen of purpureus labelled ''epiglottis" by 

 Linnaeus himself, a name which, so far as it covers other plants 

 than true epiglottis, is replaced in the Mantissa by the name 

 hypoglottis, so that we may justifiably substitute " hypoglottis " 

 for ''epiglottis " in the label of that specimen. 



SHOBT NOTES. 



PoLYGALA VULGARIS L. var. GRANDiFLORA Bab. — "Ben Bulben 

 at 1200 feet, and occasionally on the cliffs of other mountains in 

 Sligo," Barrington and Vowell, Proc. Roy. Irish Acad. iv. No. 4 

 (1885), p. 502. Dr. WiUiams, in the new (ninth) part of his 

 Prodromiis (1912, p. 522), remarks on this : " As a distinct form 

 the status is doubtful. There are only two specimens in the 

 Herb. Mus. Brit." ; but these two specimens have absolutely 

 nothing to do with Babington's variety ! Babington, in the second 

 edition of his Manual (p. 38, 1847), mentions it as under: — "A 

 plant from Ben Bulben, Sligo, which is probably distinct, has the 

 lower leaves oblong and rather small, upper lanceolate and large, 

 wings of the calyx elliptical apiculate, their lateral nerves rejoining 

 the central one near the apex, aud with numerous anastomosing 

 branches externally, central nerve usually quite simple." In his 

 fourth edition (p. 40, 1856) he adds, " and may be the var. grand i- 

 flora (W. and G.)." In the seventh (p. 44, 1874) he names it var. 

 grandiflora Bab. ; and so up to the ninth edition, 1904. Syme, 

 in Eng. Bot., quotes " ed. 5, p. 41 " — a sHp. But there was 

 already a var. grandiflora DC, so that Babington's plant cannot 

 bear that name. That is why Nyman, Consp. Fl. Europ. (1878) 

 p. 83, named it P. Ballii, as Ball had named it P. bnxifolia in 

 his herbarium, a name already occupied. That being so the plant 

 should be named P. vulgaris L. var. Ballii (Nyman). The 

 Glamorgan plant also does not belong here. The plant has a 



