SPICILEGIA GORGONEA. 101 
which they were collected. It occurs in the Cape de Verd 
herbarium of the Paris Museum, with much broader leaves 
and larger flowering stems; but I cannot venture to separate 
these specimens from the plant described in the “ Phyto- 
graphia Canariensis;" for, in a genus where the species vary 
so exceedingly, and at the same time are so alike, it is only 
by the observation of the living plant under cultivation that 
such doubts can be effectually removed. 
V. ReskEDACEE, DC. 
12, Caylusea canescens, St. Hil. 2ème mém. sur les Resedacées 
(Montpell. 1837) p. 29. Reseda canescens, Linn. Syst. 
Veg. ed. 12. (1767) p. 83, non ejusd. Sp. Pl. ed. 1. (1753) 
P. 448. nec ed. 2. (1764) p. 644. Vahl, Symb. 2. p. 52. Willd. 
Sp. Pl. 2. p. 817. excl. patria et preter Forsk. syn. omnibus. 
Lamrk. encycl. 6. p. 158. excl. patria Salmantica et syn. 
omnibus preter Vahl et Forsk.! Reseda Mediterranea, Linn. 
Mant. p. 564 ex herb.! Reseda hexagyna, Forsk. Pl. Aig. 
p. 92. Reseda podocarpos, Viv. Pl, dig. dec. p. 7.—Ie. 
Viv. l. c. t. 2. f. 8. ; 
Has. In aridis ins. S. Jacobi, (J. Dalton Hooker, n. 165. 
November 1839, sp. florida et fruct.) 
he above composes the very intricate synonymy of this 
curious plant. The name canescens was originally given by 
Linneus to a species of Reseda, mentioned by Clusius, 
belonging to the actual genus Astrocarpus, This species has 
been admirably elucidated by M. Gay in the “Archives de 
la Flore de la France et d’Allemagne” of Schultz, 1842, 
P. 35, and named A. Clusii, which includes both the original 
eda canescens, L., and the R. purpurascens, ejusd. A few 
Years afterwards, in the “ Systema Nature,” Linneus, pro- 
bably from forgetfulness, without advertising his readers or 
informing them from whom he had received it, substituted 
for his original R. canescens, and under the same name, à 
totally different plant, sent to him probably from Palestine 
or Egypt. This plant was our present species. Hence has 
"rien the greatest confusion, most of the authors who 
