HoBKiRK : ON Deseglise's kosjs tomentos^. 



129 



Baker in 1865, E. tomentosa, from Westmoreland, such, as it is known 

 amongst the greater proportion of authors. Nos. 2, 4, and 5, are, according 

 to Mr. Baker, the most common forms in England, but it does not follow 

 from that, that these forms ought to be united under Smith's species, rather 

 than under any other ; for the English specimens which I have received, 

 under the name of M. tomentosa, are literally charged with glands on the 

 under surface of the leaves, and certainly Smith could not fail to have 

 noticed this character in the diagnosis of his species, if his typical plant 

 had been provided with them. 'No. 6, does not belong to this section but to 

 the Rubiginosae. The specimen No. 1, being pasted down, it cannot be 

 determined whether the leaves are glandolose beneath or not. No. 7 

 cannot be referred to what authors describe under the name of B. tomentosa. 

 The types in Smith's Herbarium being thus covered with uncertainty, the 

 wisest plan will be to analyse the texts ; and this is the method we shall 

 pursue in endeavouring to clear away the confusion which exists under the 

 name of B. tomentosa. 



Smith, Flora britannica (1800) Vol. ii. page 539, says, " FoUola ellijgti- 

 ca-ovata, iitrinque mollissime tomentosa" and again in the Compendium 

 florae brittannicse. (1816) page 78. No. 9, " Friictihiis ovatis pedunculisque 

 hispidis, aculeis caidinis aduncis, foliolis ovatis utrinque tomentosis." (All 

 or nearly all the Floras of France and Germany, give Smith's plant as 

 without glands on the under surface of the leaf). Smith in separating his 

 a. tomentosa says, " Prcecedente ( R. vdlosa, L. which also has leaves 

 without glands,yi omnibus partibus minor est, et habit ii cum R. canina 

 convenit, nisi quod folia undiqiie ptcbescimt, et subcinerea videntur." 



De Candolle, Flore frang. vol. iii. T^age 440, (1805) says, " Leaves 

 covered with soft hairs, numerous and ajjpressed," and cites the synonym of 

 Bauhin, Hist. pi. vol ii. p, 44. f 2 (1) Certainly the doubt may be admitted 

 since the enlarged figure of Bauhin represents a plant having peduncles, 

 calyx-tube and calyx divisions glabrous. • 



Gmelin, Fl. Badensis-AIsatica, (1806) vol, iv. p. 368, says, " Foliola 

 septem, quinque, subsessilia, ovalia, argide duplicato-serrata, utrinque pal- 

 lide viridia tomentoso-sericea,'' citing the figure of Sowerby Engl. Bot. t. 

 990, (t. 467, 3d Ed.) This figure is very bad, inasmuch as it only shews the 

 upper part of a flowering branch, and all the leaves with the upper surface 

 only, besides that they aie simply dentate, whilst they ought to be doubly 

 dentate. 



