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SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT OP THE SPECIES 
C. Epithymum; even now he preserves in his own herbarium, under this name, forms of several other species, besides 
the very specimen described and figured by him as C. planiflora, easily recognized by the well-figured Plantago lanceo¬ 
late* on which it grows. But this is not the only, nor the principal, cause of the difficulties under which botanists 
have labored in regard to this plant. It is probably the most variable of ail the species of this genus, and appears' 
under a larger number of forms than any other. Well may botanists differ from the view that t take in regard 
to this species, but it has not been adopted lightly. With 150 to 200 specimens from Europe, Africa, and Asia, before 
me, I have found it impossible to separate, specifically, the different forms here brought together; and even the sub¬ 
species, enumerated below, cannot always be limited satisfactorily. On the other hand I find it difficult to keep this 
species, or complex of forms, as I am inclined to call it, separate from some allied species. Some varieties approach 
to tt brevistyla, others to C. Palcestina, and others again are difficult to distinguish from the alpine form of C Evithv- 
mum ( Kotschyi ). - ' - . 
The long list of synonyms properly belongs to the different subspecies ; for the species, as I take it, [465 (15)] 
. no synonym, nor even a name, exists: the one adopted by me is the earliest one given to any one of the 
forms. 
Synopsis of the forms of C. planiflora. 
a. Lobes of the calyx more membranaceous than fleshy; laciniaj of the corolla turgid only at the points: styles much Joheer 
than ovary. 6 
* Calyx cupulate, lobes usually broad and short, and, like the short lacinise, cuspidate: Var. apprortmata. 
** Calyx more deeply divided, its lobes and the lacinise narrow, elongated, acute: Var. Schimziana. 
b. Lobes of the calyx thick and turgid; lacinise turgid and often cucullate at tip; styles longer than ovary, usually shorter than 
or as long as capsule. 
* Flowers larger; lobes of calyx united above the middle or almost to the point: -Var. Webbii. 
** Flowers usually smaller; sepals almost distinct. 
t Flowers smooth: Var. Tenorii. 
ft Flowers mealy or warty: Var. papillosa. 
Var. o. appboximata. 0 . approximate, Babington! Arm. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1844, pi. 4., and 1845, pi. 1.. 
A. Braun! Berl. bot. Zeitg. 1844, p. 542, and in Jahrb. d. Ver. f. N. K. Nassau, 1851, t. 1, f. 1. O. urceolata, 
Kunze! in Flora, 1846, p. 651. G. cupulate, Engelm.! in Bot. Zeitg. 1846, c. 276. G. planiflora, Knnze! in 
Flora, 1846, p. 655. G. leucosphcera, Boiss. & Heldr.! in sched. (afterwards referredTry Boissier Diag. Or. 1. II. 
127 to G. urceolata ). G. Asiatica, Pallas! in Herb. H. Bot. Petropol. — The name, approximate, was given 
to this species for the closely approaching halves of the scales; yet, it more appropriately signifies the close 
alliance with the last species, and especially with its last mentioned variety. The original G. approximate 
was found in fields of Medicago in England, Germany and Switzerland, undoubtedly an imported plant, as 
Babington already states, probably from India; or perhaps from southeastern Europe or Asia Minor. In ’this 
cultivated plant the flowers are larger (lj-2 lines long), more attenuated at base, the scales appressed, short and 
often bifid. Similar forms, with numerous large flowers in large and very dense heads occur in Asia Minor (Taurus 
Kotschy! 357; Tmolus, Balansa! 414; Smyrna, Balansa! 412; Bithynia, Thirke.!), in Greece (Taygetus! Parnassus' 
Thracia!), and in Piedmont (Herb. Link! Reichenbach fil.!). The plants from the southwest seem to be a little smaller- 
Spain (Willkomm! 263 & 246; Bourgeau! 331 & 1299; Ph. Schimper!). Several specimens from the Canary 
belong rather to this than to C. Episonchum. In the East this species has been found in Egypt (Fischer!), in Syria 
(Kotschy! 104), in Persia (Kotschy! 580, a.), and in the Himalaya regions (Hiigel! Stocks! Hooker 
& Thomson!). The northern Asiatic form, which I had formerly distinguished under the name of [466 (16)1 
0. cupulate, occurs in the Caucasus, the Altai, and, as it seems, throughout Siberia (Ledebour! Godet! 
Becker! Karelin! 1721, etc.); flowers smaller in dense but small heads; calyx large, loose, almost entire, with broad 
and short lobes; scales comparatively large and incurved. 
Var. A Schibaziana, G. Schiraziana, Boissier* Diag. Or. I. 9, 86, has loose and few-flowered heads, rather 
membranaceous flowers, with the lobes of the deeply divided calyx and the lacinise long and acute. The specimens 
examined by me, the same that Boissier described, were collected in Persia' by Kotschy! and distributed under 118 
and 318. In some the lacinias are larger, in others shorter; scales larger and entire; or smaller, truncate and even 
bifid. — Link gathered a specimen of this form in Portugal on Ulex nanus, which has even longer lobes and a more 
deeply divided calyx than the Persian plant. 
Var. y. Webbii. 0. Episonchum, Webb! Phyt. Canar. III. p. 36, t. 141. G. Epiplocamum, Webb! in PL 
Bourgeau, 1430. —This, together with 0. calycina, Webb, another form of this species, seems to be the only native 
Guscute of the Canary Islands, though the Herbaria show the names of G. Europcea and 0. Epithymum from thence; 
C. Epilinum has been introduced there. It has been collected by Webb! Bourgeau! 18, 426, 459, 1430; De la Per- 
randihre! Bolle! and others. I have seen the same form from Portugal, Deakin! Welwitsch! 192. — In C. Episonchum 
the lobes of the calyx are not as completely united as in C. Epiplocamum. 
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Botanic. 
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