Ranlioch, in Perthshire ; also in the Isle of Rum, on a mountain called Baike- 
vall : Hev. J. Lightfoot. — On Olenmore, Ross shire ; Ben Grihunt, Suther- 
land ; and Bidan-nam-bian in Glencoe: Withering.— In a bos at the back of 
Invercauld House, Aberdeenshire, abundant, and with an uncommon luxuri- 
ance. Also on several hills about Invercauld, and on the mountains of Breadal- 
bane: Mr. Brown. — On the summit ol the Clova mountains, Forfarshire: 
Mr. Don. 
Perennial. — Flowers in July and August. 
Root somewhat woody, with many long, zigzag, whitish fibres. 
Stem solitary, nearly leafless, from 4 to 6 inches high, upright, 
simple, cylindrical, quite smooth. Leaves almost wholly radical, 
about 2 inches long, in tufts, sword-shaped, equitant, ribbed, in- 
curved at the point. Spike terminal, solitary, oblong, blunt. 
Flowers very small, yellowish or greenish- white. Calyx (fig. 1.) 
very small, 3-cleft, with a minute bractea at its base. Petals (f. 2.) 
inversely egg-shaped, blunt, concave, a little longer than the sta- 
mens. Germens united at the base. Styles short, spreading. 
Stigmas abrupt, slightly capitate. Capsules (figs. 4 & 5.) con- 
verging, each crowned by the permanent style. Seeds numerous, 
egg-shaped, tawny-coloured. 
The drawing for the accompany ittg plate was made from a plant which has 
for many years, probably ever since the time of Diillnius, been cultivated in the 
Oxford Garden as the Tofieldia palustris, and specimens of the same are pre- 
served in the Sherardian Herbarium, and labelled, in Dr. J. Sim Hone’s liand- 
wiiting, T. palustris. Duds.; Anther icum calyculatum, Linn.; fiom this I 
considered it to be the same as the Bri'ish species, native specimens of which 1 
have not seen ; but, since the whole impression of the annexed plate was struck 
off, and coloured, I have read Sir James K. Smith’s paper on the Genus 
Tofieldia, in the 12th vol. of Tr. of the Linn. Soc. ; and I am inclined to think 
that the plant which 1 have figured is the T. ulpina of Sir .1 ami s ; T. palustris 
of I)e Candoi.lf. ; a plant which, previous to the publication of Sir James's 
paper, was considered as a variety of the British species, whose greater luxuti- 
ance, or more dilated habit, was attributed to its situation in a more favourable 
climate. The principal differences, as pointed out by Sir J. K. Smith, are as 
follows:— In T. palustris, the flowers are produced in an egg-shaped or oblong 
spike or head, and are sessile * ; and the stem has frequently one leal at its 
base. In T. alpina, every pait of the plant is twice as large ; the flowers form 
a cylindrical cluster, from 1 to 2 inches long, each flower having a short, thick, 
partial stalk, accompanied by a small, solitary bractea, at its base; and the 
stem is furnished with two leaves, the uppermost of which is the smallest. Sir 
J. K. Smith observes, that “ notwithstanding what is said in Gerarde’s lletbal 
(p. 96.), there is no authority lor this ever having been found in Britain." 
The Natural Order MejlanthacevE, is composed of mono- 
cotyledonous, herbaceous plants, whose roots are fibrous, sometimes 
fascicled, rarely bulbous. Their flowers either rise immediately 
from the root, or are produced in panicles on tall leafy stems, or in 
spikes or racemes upon naked scapes. The perianth (fig. 2.) is in- 
ferior, petaloid, in 6 pieces, or, in consequence of the union of 
their claws, tubular ; the pieces or segments generally involute in 
the bud. The stamens (f. 3.) are 6 in number, with their anthers 
mostly turned outwards. The ovary is3-celled, and many-seeded ; 
the style trifid or 3-parted ; and the stigmas undivided. The capsule 
(f. 4.) is often divisible into 3 pieces ; sometimes with the valves 
bearing the dissepiment in the middle. The seeds have a mem- 
branous testa ; and a dense, fleshy albumen. See Lindl. Sign. 
* The figures in Linn. FI. Lapp. ; and Liyhtf. FI. Scot. ; which are quoted 
by Sir J. K. Smith, as belonging to T. palustris, have the floweis, not sessile, 
but on slender partial stalks ; and the figure in En 0 l. Bot. also represents it as 
ItaviDg the flowers somewhat pedunculate. 
