102 Rhodora [Max 
Ten. Fl. Nap. i. 7, t. 1 (1811).— Veronica Tournefortii C. C. Gmelin, 
Fl. Bad. i. 39 (1805), is the name employed in our local manuals to 
designate the plant that has, at times, been passing under the names 
of V. Buxzbaumii or V. byzantina. A reference to Gmelin's Flora 
Baden shows: (1) that the specific name is based upon Tournefort's 
Veronica orientalis, foliis Hederae terrestris, flore magno; (2) that the 
synonymy quoted is the Tournefortian species just mentioned, V. 
filiformis Sm. Trans. Linn. Soc. i. 195 (1791), and Buxbaum, Plantae 
minus cognitae Cent. i. t. 40, f. 1 (1727), all these being identical; 
(3) that the greater part of the description applies to V. filiformis Sm. 
The cescription of the leaf is that of V. Buxbaumii. While it is more 
than probable that Gmelin intended to include under his name both 
the species then known as V. filiformis Sm. and that which was later 
called V. Buxbaumii Ten., a careful analysis of all the factors to be 
considered can not leave any doubt but that he intended to make the 
Tournefortian species the type of his own and this conclusion is partic- 
ularly evidenced by the specific name itself which certainly cannot 
have been derived from any other element. Since a binomial stands 
or falls with the element upon which it is founded, V. Tournefortii 
becomes a synonym of the older V. filiformis Sm. and its retention 
for V. Buxbaumii is erroneous. V. persica Poir. seems to be the oldest 
name applicable and should be taken up instead of V. Tournefortii 
for the species long known as V. Buxbaumii. 
VIBURNUM OruLus Linn. var. AMERICANUM (Mill) Ait. In Rmo- 
DORA, xx. 14-15 (1918) Mr. S. F. Blake gives his reasons for dropping 
the “ (Mill.)" from the authority for this variety and retaining “ Ait.” 
only. The reasons are that Miller's herbarium specimen of his 
Viburnum americanum is nothing more nor less than Hydrangea 
arborescens Linn. [Therefore by inference Miller's species is a mere 
synonym of Hydrangea arborescens Linn.] and that as Aiton made no 
reference to Miller's publication, Miller should not be a part of the 
author-citation. The above argument of Mr. Blake is of the nature 
of a boomerang for it is an excellent one against the practice he follows 
of adopting old herbarium specimens as types of species. Miller 
calls his species the Guelder Rose and says it has red berries, factors 
that will not permit of the species being referred as a synonym to 
Hydrangea arborescens. While Aiton did not mention Miller's publi- 
cation there can be no doubt that he knew of it and that it was this 
knowledge that led him, when describing the plant as a variety, to use 
