ON INULA SALICINA AS AN IRISH PLANT.

BY D. MOORE, PH.D., F.L.S.

(PLATE XLIII.)

At page 333 of Vol. III. of this Journal, there is a notice of the discovery of Inula salicina in Ireland, and the Plate now given is taken from specimens collected at Lough Derg, in August, 1865.

The following may be considered as the specific character and synonymy:

I. salicina, Linn. Sp. 1238; Vill. Dauph. iii. p. 247; De Cand. Fl. Fr. iv. p. 154.

Aster salicinus, Scop. Carn. ii. p. 172; Ic. Fl. Dan. t. 786; Rchb. Exsic. 2458.

I. cordata, Boiss. Diagn. iv. p. 3. Wlprs. Rep. vi. p, 141, fide Schultz-Bip.

Stem from 6 to 14 inches high, firm, angularly striated, simple or branched near the summit, more or less clothed with hairs in the Irish plant (smooth on foreign specimens); leaves cordate-lanceolate, semiamplexicaul at the base, midrib and under-surface hairy in the Irish plant (glabrous on foreign specimens) bluntly dentate on the margins, and slightly recurved at or near the apex; flowers terminal, solitary or in corymbs, bright yellow; scales of the involucre ovate-lanceolate, roughly ciliated at the margins, with reflexed apices; achæuia smooth. Fl. July.

HAB. On the county Galway shore of Lough Derg, among rough herbage and stones, in considerable abundance, about three-quarters of a mile south-west of Portumna.

The foregoing description shows that our plant differs in some respects from the normal form of the species, especially in being more pubescent on the stems and leaves, and also in the latter being more dentate on their margins. These characters, however, appear to vary according to circumstances, as may be gathered from the descriptions of the several authors who have described the plant.

On comparing the examples brought from Portumna with plants under cultivation at Glasnevin, the differences were such as to cause some doubt whether our plant is not equally near to I. semiamplexicaulis, VOL. IV. [FEBRUARY 1, 1866.]

D

Reuter, as it is to the typical form of I. salicina. Authenticated specimens of the former show that such is not the case. It is a strongergrowing plant than the latter, with more amplexicaul leaves, which are more crowded on the stem, and densely covered with short hairs.

I. salicina is known to inhabit France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Scandinavia, and Denmark; it might consequently be expected to appear somewhere in the British Isles, as is now proved to be the case, though the present is the only instance hitherto recorded.

I have great pleasure in supplementing these remarks by some observations on the genus Inula in general, and I, salicina in particular, which Dr. C. H. Schultz Bipontinus has addressed to the Editor, and which, coming from such a source, are important.

"The extensive genus Inula forms three subgenera, which may be characterized as follows:

"I. INULASTER, Schl. Bip.-Flores omnes tubulosi, 5-dentati, hermaphroditi.

"II. CAPPA, De Cand. Prod. v. p. 469.-Flores radii, stylo breviores parvæ, disci tubulosi, 5-dentati

"III. EUINULA, Schl. Bip.-Flores radii lingulati, ligulis disco longioribus conspicuis, disci tubulosi, 5-dentati.

A. Achænia hirta.

B. Achænia glabra.

a. Capitulis mediocribus in corymbum dispositis.

a. Folia decurrentia. (I. thyrsoides, De Cand.; I. bifrons, Linn.)

B. Folia sessilia. (I. Germanica, L. etc.)

b. Capitulis paucis majoribus rarius in corymbum dispositis.
a. Folia basi angustata, infra tomentosa, capitula medio-
cria, corymbosa. (I. Vaillantii, Vill.*)

B. Folia cum caule 1-oligocephalo hirsuto. (I. hirta, Linn.)
7. Folia cum caule glabrescentia.

* Folia oblongo-lanceolata, valde reticulata.

+ Sessilia, præcipue suprema apiculata. (I. squarrosa, Linn.)

+ Auriculata-amplexicaulia (I. salicina).

"Inula salicina has a wide geographical range, being met with in the

*The nearest ally of I. Vaillantii, Vill., is I. Japonica, Thunb., which I have from Japan (Zollinger! n. 281, and Göring! n. 240).

whole of Europe, with the exception of the extreme northern and southern parts, and extending through Asia Minor to Persia, where it seems to belong to the subalpine region and through European Russia into Siberia. The Inula discovered in Ireland, judging from Plate XLIII. of the Journal of Botany' forwarded to me, is the genuine I. salicina, and Ireland therefore the north-western limit of this widelydiffused plant. With us in the Palatinate the plant is common in meadows, on rivulets, and at the foot of small hills, flowering from the beginning of July till August. I have it from nearly every part of Germany, viz. Würtemberg, Baden, Bavaria, Austria, and Prussia, as far as Berlin (C. Bolle !) I have also seen it from many other parts of Europe, but as yet not from Spain, where, according to Loscos and Pardo, Ser. inc. Pl. Arragon, it grows in the province of Arragon. In France it is abundant, viz. about Paris (Kralik! Leret!), Lyons (A. Jordan !), and Meude (Prost!). In Switzerland it was collected by Perty and Lagger. In Italy it extends as far as Naples (Gussone!). Other localities are : Croatia (Farkas Vusotinovio!), Serbia, (Pancic!), Banat (Wierezbicki !), Ucrania (Turczaninow!), Petersburg in monte Duderhof (Körnicke!), Sweden (Fries! Herb. Norm. xiv. 2), and Norway, near Christiania (Blytt!). In Asiatic Russia, Inula salicina is also widely distributed (vide Gmelin, Fl. Sib. ii. 177. t. 77! and Turcz. Fl. Baic. Dahur. ii. p. 28). From Asia Minor it extends to Persia, viz. in M. Elbrus pr. Derbend, July 5, 1843 (Kotschy! n. 443a), Karadagh, July, 1847, and Albrus Mountains, June, 1848 (F. Buhse!), and Caucasian Baths (C. Koch!).

"Broad-leaved forms (I. salicina, B. latifolia, Visiani) I have from Dalmatia (Visiani !), Roumelia (Noe!), Russian Armenia and Daratschitschak (C. Koch!).

"Inula cordata, Boiss. Diagn. iv. p. 3; Walp. Rep. vi. p. 141, which Kotschy (Iter Syric. n. 255!) collected in locis subhumidis supra mar Tserkis, alt. 4500, 19 Jul.,' is identical with I. salicina, judging from authentic specimens communicated by M. Boissier. Exactly the same plant I have from Daghestan (C. Koch!).

“I. salicina is closely allied to I. viscidula, Kotschy et Boiss. (in angustis rupestribus Tenz dictis, alt. 6500 ped., die 9 Sept. Kotschy! Iter Cilicico-Kurdistan., 1859, n. 446), but is distinguished at first sight by its robust habit, its oval-oblong, attenuate, more sessile, and slightly serrate leaves, its poly-(26-)cephalous corymb, and its achenia,