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302 SPERGULA PENTANDRA IN IRELAND ?
and open to no doubt. Nolte himself writes " P. fiUformis Persoon,"
yet be does not put the sign 1 as having seen Persoon's ]Dlant.
P. Friesii Rupr. Beit, zur PL d. Russ. Reich. 4, p. 43, 1845 !
The name of this pbxnt, the P. viucronatus of authors (except Presl),
is as difficult to settle as that oi filiformis
names it appears under are given here
Nolte. Some of the
:—
P. compressuiii Oeder, Flora Dan. t. 203 (17G5) ;
! Roth, Beit,
z. Bot. 2, p. 130 (1783).
P. acutifolius Presl, Fl. Cech. p. 37 (1819)
P. comiiressum fj. elongatum Wahl. Fl. Suec. 1, p. 107, 1824,
Jide Meyer.
P. jmsillus L., var. a, Cham, et Sch. Linngea, 2, 171-2 (1827)
P. pusiUus L., var. major Fi-ies, Nov. Fl. Suec. p. 48 (1828)
P. compirssum Smith, Engl. Fl. 1, p. 234 (1828)
P. pnsillns var. latifolius Meyer, Ch. Hann. p. 525 (183G).
P. miicromitus Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. v. 7, 15 (1844),
lion Scbrader ?
P. Oederi Meyer, Fl. Hann. Excur. 1849.
P. acutifolius Meinsbausen, Fl. Ing. Exsicc. 7, G13 (1861)
? P. jJ^isilhcs L., var. interruptns Schul. Oest. Fl. ed. 2 (1814).
(To be continued.)
SPERGULA PENTANDBA IN IRELAND?
By James Britten, F.L.S.
In the last number of the 'Annals of Botany,' Mr. Druce gives
his reasons for considering S}}er(jula pentandra an Irish plant. The
greater part of his paper is occupied with a description of the
species, " adopted from the Fl. Hispan. by Wilkomm et Lange," with
bibliography and synonymy : but its chief interest lies in the
evidence adduced for accepting the plant as native. This is tbus
stated by Mr. Druce:— " While recently engaged in examining the
plants in the Dillenian Herbarium in the Oxford collection, I came
upon a specimen of a Spen/ula, which from the seeds I saw was S.
pentandra. It was labelled ' 351. 8 from G. Sherard' : the number
refers to the page and paragraph of the 3rd edition of Ray's
Synopsis, and G. Sherard is AVilham Sherard, the munificent donor
of plants and endowments to the Oxford Botanic Garden, sometime
Consul at Smyrna In support of the contention that it is a
native plant of Ireland we have the fact that the plant in question
is true S. jientandra, that it is labelled 'collect. G. Sherard,' that it
is preserved on the original numbered sheet, that it was in the
sheet of the Dillenian herbarium corresponding to the pagination
of his Synopsis, and the number on it agrees with the especial
paragraph where the plant is so aptly described ; and that we know
Sherard visited several parts of Ireland, including Drogheda and
the Mourne Mountains, in one of which places he most probably
collected the plant in question."