24 Rhodora [FEBRUARY 
known as Eleocharis tenuis (Willd.) Schultes, with which it has pre- 
viously been identified by Gray and C. B. Clarke, although no pub- 
lished record has been made. In the Linnaean Herbarium are two 
sheets representing S. capitatus: 1st., a sheet of the plant now known as 
Eleocharis capitata, received from Patrick Browne in 1758, and con- 
sequently of no importance in fixing the type of the species; 2nd., a 
sheet of E. obtusa (Willd.) Schultes, collected by Kalm and known to 
Linnaeus before 1753. As the description in the Species Plantarum 
refers mainly to the Clayton specimen, it is necessary to regard this as 
the type of the species, the Patrick Browne specimen being, as already 
noted, of no consequence in this connection since it was not known to 
Linnaeus before 1758. It therefore becomes necessary to adopt for 
the widely distributed tropical and subtropical species that has been 
called Eleocharis capitata the name EvLrEocuartis caribaea (Rottb.) 
Blake, based on Scirpus caribacus Rottb. Descr. Pl. Rar. Progr. 24 
(1772); Deser. Ic. Nov. Pl. ed. 1. 46. t. 24 (1772); ed. 2. 1. e (1786). 
The variety with purplish-brown scales and purplish-black achenes, 
localized at the southern end of Lake Michigan, becomes E. CARIBAEA 
var. dispar (E. J. Hill) Blake (EF. dispar E. J. Hill, Bot. Gaz. vii. 3 
(1882); E. capitata var. dispar (E. J. Hill) Fernald, Ruopora viii. 126 
(1906). 
The name Eleocharis capitata (L.) R. Br., Prod. Fl. Nov. Holl. i. 
225 (1810), has a somewhat peculiar status. It was based on “ Scirpus 
capitatus Linn. sp. pl. ed. Willd. 1. p. 294,” but was expressly dis- 
tinguished from the Gronovian plant, which of course Brown had 
examined, type of S. capitatus L. Since however Willdenow’s S. 
capitatus is based directly on Linnaeus’s, the application of Brown’s 
name must be determined by the Clayton plant on which rests the 
name-bringing synonym of Linnaeus. The name ELEOCHARIS CAPI- 
TATA (L.) R. Br. must therefore now be restricted to the plant which 
has long been called Eleocharis tenuis (Willd.) Schultes. 
2. Scirpus autumnalis L. Mant. ii. 180 (1771).! This species was 
based solely on Clayton 772, which, as well represented in the Lin- 
naean Herbarium and the Clayton Herbarium, is the plant known in 
1 Scirpus aulumnalis. 
“SCIRPUS culmo ancipiti nudo, umbella decomposita foliosa, spiculis ovatis. 
“Scirpus foliosus pusillus antumnalis [sic], culmo plano utrinque paullum compresso. Clayt. 
772. 
“Habitat in Virginia. 
“Facies Junci pilosi. . . &c.” 
