way : Mr. Wilson finds it on the coasts of Wales and Cumberland,
and it was long since collected by Mr. Borrer at
Rottingdean in Sussex.
The brittle stems of this plant become elongated, by decay
of the leaves ; spreading around the taper woody root,
of which they form the crown; and bearing tufts of slightly
reflexed leaves, whose bordered footstalk, much shorter and
broader than that of S. Limonium, expands, near its insertion,
and clasps the stem. The lateral ribs of the leaves are
nearly parallel, in one, and sometimes in two pairs, becoming
indistinct within less than a third of the coarsely reticulated
summit; the midrib of S. Limonium, and of S'. Gmelini,
a kindred species, will be found, by transmitted light, to be
accompanied by diverging, alternate, flexuose veins.
The base of the panicle is rather flat, rarely equalling a
fourth of its length. The branches are angular, or somewhat
winged; and bear spikes of lowers less crowded,
and consequently less frequently reflected, than those of
S. Limonium; from which their calyx also differs by its
deep membranous border, closed after flowering; and their
petals by being emarginate, and of a less brilliant, though
delicate, purple-blue.
From allied species, S. binervosa may be distinguished by
the above specific characters, if reliance can be at all placed
upon the descriptions of Willdenow, Desfontaines, and
others: from S. olecefolia of Willd. Sp. PI. v. 1. p. 1525,
by its spathulate leaves and rarely winged branches : from
S. cordata of the same work, with which the Kentish plant
was confounded, by the entire, though sometimes depressed,
point of its leaves : from S. spathulata of Smith in Rees's
Cyclopaedia, figured in Curtis's Bot. Mag. t. 1617, by the
pointless and awnless leaves and round branches of the
latter: from S. Willdenowiana andglobularifolia ofSprengel
and Desfontaines, by its mucro situate beneath the point of
the leaf: from S. auriculcefolia of Willdenow, and S. bellidi-
folia of Gouan, FI. Monsp. p. 231, and Flore Frang. v. 3.
p. 421, by its leaves and membranous-edged, blunt floral
bracteae; and lastly, by the same character, and especially
by habit, from S. reticulata. Still however Dr. Hooker has
referred our plant to S. spathulata, and Mr. D. Don regards
it as S. globularifolia. Should either of these ideas eventually
prove correct, the trivial name here proposed will
necessarily be excluded.—G. E. S.