Flora of Devon and Cornwall, by I. W. N. Keys. 
0. amethijstea (Thuill.) 0. Eryngii Duby. — ^* Perhaps a form 
of O. minor " (Bab. Man.). " I strongly incline lo regard the 
English plant as simply O. minor'' (H. C. Watson, Cyb. Brit. iii. 
475). — Parasitical upon i)rtMcifs gummifer. — J). Plymouth, on cliffs 
under the Hoe, near the easternmost part of West-hoe quarries 
(I8C9). A single specimen was gathered by Mr. Banker in 1850 
at a spot at the extreme eastern part of the Hoe, then known as 
" Tin-side " (from the fact of tin and rubbish being deposited there). 
Mr. G. Bartlett also quotes the Hoe cliffs as a habitat for this 
species in his MS. notes on the copy of Fl.Dev. belonging to the 
Plymouth Institution and Devon and Cornwall Natural History 
Society, before referred to. Torquay : Hore'm Phytol. 1842, p. 162. 
Ladram bay : Cress, in Rav. Langstone cliff, Dawlish : Lees ib. 
— C. Whitsand bay!, near Plymouth ^ Kingsand : Briggs in 
Journ. Bot. iii. 351. Mawgan Perth : Mr. Mennell (1869). 
[There is not sufficient authority for inserting 0. ramosa (L.) in our list. 
It appears in Fl. Dev. with this remark : — " Mentioned by Hudson as grow- 
ing wild in Devon."] 
Opinions are greatly at variance as to what are and what are not true spe- 
cies of Orobanche. Mr. Bentham includes under O. minor three or four vari- 
eties, which are regarded by Professor Babington and others as distinct 
species. It may not be uninteresting to quote his remarks on the subject as 
given in connection with his description of that species : — *' One of the 
widest-spread species over Europe and Russian Asia, growing on a great 
variety of plants. In Britain, not uncommon in southern and central 
England, and southern Ireland ... It varies according to station, and the 
1 It was from this locality that the first British specimens of 0. amethystea 
were distributed. The habitat was discovered some twenty-five years since 
by the Rev. W. S. Hore, who directed me to the spot. (The specimen in herb, 
of Plymouth Institution was collected by Dr. Jacob). The plant is becoming 
scarce here, or is perhaps merely, as I incline to think, inconstant in its appear- 
ance. "With regard to the Plymouth habitat, I believe that I have looked for the 
plant every year since Mr. Banker found it there (which was in 1850), but 
have not met with it until this year (1869), when it was first seen by Dr. Clay, 
a gentleman recently come to reside in Plymouth. It is true my search was 
confined to the immediate locality in which Mr. Banker discovered it, whereas 
Dr. Clay saw it at the other extremity of the Hoe. 
