5i 
CREPIS BIENNIS L. IN YORKSHIRE. 
E. DRABBLE, D.Sc., F.L.S, 
With the question of the presence of Crepis biennis in 
Yorkshire has become involved the identity of certain plants 
gathered near Bridlington by Messrs. Lawson and Flintoff 
and others. As one of those whose misfortune it is to have been 
drawn into the discussion, a short statement from me may, 
perhaps, be permitted. In 1929 the late Dr. G. C. Druce 
sent me a sheet labelled * Crepis nicceensis Balb., N. Yorks., 
June, 1929, ex R. J. Flintoff ’ for my determination. The 
plant clearly was not nicceensis, as the hairy inner surface of 
the phyllaries at once showed, but the specimen was in such 
extremely poor condition and so incomplete that no deter- 
mination was possible. A plant, however, was raised from a 
fruit of this specimen, and this formed a good rosette in 1930 
and flowered in 1931, but it was apparently self -sterile, as 
no fertile fruits could be obtained. This plant was similar 
to a Crepis found by me in that year at Freshwater, Isle of 
Wight, and was identified as C. oporinoides Boissier, Voyage 
botanique dans le Midi de l’Espagne. 
I have seen the specimen from Allerston, which Mr. 
Flintoff says is now ‘ at rest * in the Herbarium at Kew. 
It would have been well could that rest have remained un- 
broken, but it has been disturbed by Mr. Flintoff himself 
in The Naturalist, November, 1932, p. 318. The specimen 
as I saw it was an incomplete plant without ripe fruit, and, 
in my opinion, was not one on which a determination could 
firmly be based for purposes of record. 
In July of the same year (1932) Mr. Lawson sent me 
plants with ‘ Bridlington ’ as the only indication of locality. 
One of these was distinctly hairy, but the rest were apparently 
large forms of the same plant as that sent me by Dr. Druce 
and grown by me from seed. There were no ripe fruits, but 
I was told that if I would only wait patiently they would 
ripen off. My previous experience with the cultivated plant 
led me to watch this with interest and it was no surprise to 
find that this did not happen, thus confirming my impression 
that the plant was self-sterile. 
Later in the same year Mr. Lawson sent what he stated to be 
fruiting heads of a large Crepis, presumably from the same local- 
ity. The pappus was well formed, but there was not a single 
fertile fruit. These specimens had markedly hairy peduncles and 
involucies, and were probably biennis. Thus from North York- 
shire I have seen plantswhich I rega.rd&s(i)biennis,(2)oporinoides. 
Firstly with respect to biennis. This is recorded in J. G. 
Baker's ‘ Flora of North Yorkshire ’ as ‘ In Cleveland in cultiv- 
ated fields, Great Ay ton, W. Mudd ! ’ This, with Baker’s 
confirmatory !,’ should be a satisfactory record, and my ex- 
perience with the North Yorkshire plants offers no challenge to 
1933 March 1 
