68 Rhodora [APRIL 
has proposed to restrict the name Gerardia L. to the tropical Ameri- 
can genus of Acanthaceae usually known as Stenandrium Nees. Dr. 
Pennell’s argument may be briefly summarized as follows, reference 
being made to the original paper by those requiring further informa- 
tion. The name Gerardia was adopted by Linnaeus from Plumier, 
who had used it for an Acanthaceous plant from the West Indies which 
by various authors has been identified with apparently good reason 
as Stenandrium rupestre (Sw.) Nees. With this plant (G. tuberosa L.), 
not autoptically known to him, Linnaeus associated four other species 
— G. purpurea, G. flava, G. pedicularia, and G. glutinosa — all four 
known to Linnaeus by personal examination, as is evidenced by his 
comparatively ample descriptions. The Linnaean diagnosis in the 
fifth edition of the Genera Plantarum refers entirely to G. tuberosa. 
This species ‘was furthermore cited by J. E. Smith in 1810 (Rees’s 
Ency. xvi. no. 1) as the species to which the name must be restricted 
in case the Linnaean genus should be divided: “Whatever might be 
the result of such examination [of the fruit], this plant [@. tuberosa L.] 
must be the true, though it were the only Gerardia, and, the rest in 
that case must have a new generic appellation and character.” 
With this treatment by Dr. Pennell, which has been followed by 
Dr. Britton in the second edition of the Illustrated Flora, the writer 
finds himself in complete agreement, although he can not subscribe 
to the recognition as independent genera of the long recognized sec- 
tions of Gerardia which are generally known as Dasystoma, Otophylla, 
and Eugerardia. The name Dasistoma Raf. (1819), which in the form 
Dasystoma has generally been applied to the G. virginica series, is 
based, according to Pennell, on Seymeria macrophylla Nutt. Ihave not 
present means of access to the rare work in which Rafinesque’s genus 
is described, but the synopsis of his characters given by Pennell fully 
substantiates the latter’s reference of the generic name to Seymeria 
macrophylla (which by Pennell is retained as generically distinct 
from Seymeria (Afzelia)). The yellow-flowered species of the G. 
virginica group were named Aurcolaria by Rafinesque in 1837, Panc- 
1 In my recent transfer (Contr. Gray Herb. N. S. no. 52. 100-101 (1917)) of the Mexican 
and West Indian species of Stenandrium to Gerardia, two species of the West Indies were acci- 
dentally omitted. These are: Greranrnia droseroides (Nees) comb. nov. (Stenandrium drose- 
roides Nees in DC. Prod. xi. 284 (1847)); and Gerarpra scaBrosa (Sw.) Raf. FI. Tell. iv. 67 
(*1836"’ = 1837) (Ruellia ? scabrosa Sw. Fl. Ind. Occ. ii. 1074 (1800); Stenandrium scabrosum 
(Sw.) Nees in DC. Prod. xi. 284 (1847); Lindau in Urb. Symb. Ant, ii, 208 (1900); Stenandrium 
punclatum Griseb, Cat, Pl, Cub, 196 (1866)). 
