CALYCANTHACEAE. 
Determined by Atrrep Rrenper and E. H. Witson. 
MERATIA Lois.! 
Meratia praecox Rehder & Wilson, n. comb. 
Calycanthus praecox Linnaeus, Sp. ed. 2, 718 (1762). — Curtis in Bot. Mag. 
XIII. t. 466 (1799). ; 
Meratia fragrans Loiseleur, Herb. Amat. III. 173 t. (1818). 
Chimonanthus fragrans Lindley in Bot. Reg. VI. t. 451 (1820). — Franchet & 
Savatier, Enum. Pl. Jap. I. 15 (1875). — Hemsley in Jour. Linn. Soc. 
XXIII. 22 (1886). — Diels in Bot. Jahrb. XXIX. 345 (1900). — Finet & 
Gagnepain in Bull. Soc. Bot. France, LII. Mém. IV. 22 (1907); Contrib. Fl. 
As. Or. II. 22 (1907). — Dunn & Tutcher in Kew Bull. Misc. Inform. Add. 
ser. X. 27 (Fl. Kwantung & Hongkong) (1912). 
Chimonanthus praecoz Link, Enum. Pl. Hort. Berol. 1I. 66 (1822). — Schneider, 
Ill. Handb. Laubholzk. I. 346, fig. 221 a-d (1905). — Makino in Tokyo Bot. 
Mag. XXIV. 300 (1910). 
Butneria praecox Schneider in Dendr. Winterstud. 241 (1903). 
Western Hupeh: Ichang, cliffs in glens and gorges, alt. 30-300 m., 
common, June 1907 (fruits), January 1908 (flowers) (No. 36; bush 
! Meratia Loiseleur, Herb. Amat. III. 173, t. (1818). — Nees von Esenbeck in 
Act. Nov. Leop.-Carol. Acad. XI. 107, t. 10 (1823). 
Chimonanthus Lindley in Bot. Reg. V. sub t. 404 (1819). — De Candolle 
Prodr. III. 2 (1828). — G. Don, Gen. Syst. II. 652 (1832). — Spach, Hist. 
Vég. IV. 284 (1835). — Endlicher, Gen. 1239 (1840). — Bentham & Hooker, 
Gen. I. 16 (1862). 
Calycanthus, sect. Chimonanthus Prantl in Engler and Prantl, Nat. Pflanzen- 
fam. III. Abt. II. 94 (1888). j 
Though the generic name Meratia was published with a full generic and specific 
description accompanied by a plate more than a year before Chimonanthus of 
Lindley, it has been generally overlooked and is not even quoted as a synonym 
ìn many taxonomic works. At first sight the priority of Meratia is not apparent, 
as the volume in which it is published is dated 1819 on the title-page, as is the case 
in the volume which contains the description of Chimonanthus. Loiseleur’s Herbier 
général de Vamateur, however, was issued in 96 parts (livraisons), each containing 
6 plates with descriptions, and part XXIX. which included the description of 
Meratia under No. 173, was issued in or before July 1818 according to the Biblio- 
graphie de la France, année 1818, p. 437 (in the monthly number of July 25, 1818), 
while Chimonanthus was not published before October 1819, which is the date 
given on the plate 404 itself. With this evidence we are obliged to take up Meratia 
as the oldest name for the genus based on Calycanthus praecoz Linnaeus. 
419 
