it was observed by Durieu on the Sierra del Peral in Asturia;
thus adding another proof of the similarity of the flora of the
west of Ireland to that of the north-west of Spain.
Stem about a foot high, downy, irregularly branched
throughout, particularly above; densely and equally leafy
quite up to the flowers. Leaves spreading, four in a whorl,
ovate, the margins revolute and fringed with stalked glands»
quite without down, the under surface white and mealy, but
the midrib bare. Flowers capitate, erect or pendulous; sepals
ovate-lanceolate, glabrous, fringed with stalked glands,
slightly mealy near the apex beneath. Corolla oblong-ovate,
contracted at the mouth with a small reflexed limb, dark purple.
Stamens included, filaments capillary, anthers awned at
the base. Style protruded. Stigma capitate. Ovary glabrous.
It will be seen from the above description that the plant
now figured differs very considerably from E. Tetralix, in
which the stem is much less and far more regularly branched;
the upper whorls of leaves more distant than the others, and
usually leaving a leafless space under the head of flowers; the
leaves are usually linear, and when young are always downy
on their upper side and on the midrib beneath; the sepals are
linear and downy, and the ovary is downy.
In order to explain the different forms of the specific name,
it may be desirable to state that the present writer and Sir
W. J. Hooker concurred in the wish that this plant should
bear the name of Mr. J. T. Mackay, the distinguished Irish
botanist; that the adjective form (Mackaiana) was adopted in
the jLinnean Transactions and the Flora Hibernica, in accordance
with the rules of botanical nomenclature; and that the
substantive form (Mackaii) was employed by Sir W. J. Hooker
in the Companion to the Botanical Magazine, from an erroneous
idea that Mr. Mackay had had some hand in its discovery
or discrimination.
The drawing was made from wild specimens gathered in
Cunnamara in August 1837, and the colouring and dissections
are supplied from plants now growing in the Royal Botanic
Gardens, Regent’s Park, London.—C. C. B.
m