37. 
* BOUVARDIA triphylla; var. splendens. 
Scarlet Bouvardia. 
TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Nat. ord. CINCHONACE. 
BOUVARDIA. Botanical Register, vol. ii. fol. 107. 
B. triphylla. Supra l. e. 
B. Jacquini. DC. Prodr. 4. 365. 
Ixora ternifolia. Cav. ic. 4. t. 305. 
Houstonia coccinea. Bot. Rep. t. 106. 
Var. splendens; omni parte pilosiore, corollis majoribus et magis coccineis. 
Bouvardia splendens. Bot. Mag. t. 3781. 
Messrs. Humboldt and Kunth altered the old and common 
name of B. triphylla into that of B. Jacquini; and the ex- 
cellent DeCandolle, whose judgment is usually so good, 
adopted the innovation, apparently because there are other 
species of Bouvardia with three leaves in a whorl. But if 
such a reason were to have any weight, it would be necessary 
to make in Botanical nomenclature an enormous number of 
alterations, besides those, already too numerous, which the 
progress of discovery renders inevitable. The change of the 
name in the present instance ought therefore to be resisted, 
as uncalled for by any sufficient necessity. 
The plant now figured is certainly a variety of B. triphylla, 
from which it differs indeed in its more scarlet, brighter, and 
larger flowers, its more pubescent surface, its more vigorous 
habit, and in the deep purple stain upon all its branches ; 
but there is no solid mark of distinction. It has however 
been regarded by Dr. Graham as a distinct species, and so 
published in the Botanical Magazine, with the name of 
BB. splendens, under which it is to be found in many nurseries. 
* See Botanical Register, fol. 107. 
July, 1840. o 
