165 
Bibliographical Notes on well known Plants,—II. 
By EDWARD L. GREENE. 
MYOSURUS MINIMUS, Linn. Spec. Pl. 284 (1753). 
This little herb appears to be no rarity in western Europe, 
where it has been more or less familiarly known to all botanical 
writers since about the middle of the sixteenth century. For 
about three hundred years it remained the only known repre- 
sentative of its genus, and then a second species was added from 
South America. Within the last seven years three others have 
been published from the western parts of North America, and 
there are perhaps two more lying in our herbaria, mixed with the 
typical one, and waiting to be named and characterized. At all 
events, the genus is now proven to belong properly to North 
America, where all the known species are indigenous. As a 
genus it isa very natural one, none of the modern species calling 
for any alteration of the generic character; and the essential bib- 
_ liography of it is therefore European, and also rather ancient. 
Bentham & Hooker in the latest edition of their Genera Plant- 
arum ascribe this genus to Linné, probably because they wish to 
avoid—on account of the vast expenditure of time and labor in- 
volved in the attainment of historical truth and accuracy in 
many cases—all reference to pre-Linnzan authorship of genera. 
In each of the two recent monographs* of Myosurus, Dillen 
(1719) is credited with its authorship, rather than Linné (1737). 
But Dillen, although at work under the heading “ Nova Plan- 
tarum Genera,” does not in his text assume to be propounding, 
in this particular instance, a genus veritably new. He is per- 
fectly aware that this one was so named, and well enough de- 
fined, about a hundred and forty years before his own day. Let 
me translate his very first phrase regarding it: ‘ MYOSUROS is 
thought by Ray, in his History, to be referable to Ranunculus, 
and Tournefort, in his Institutes, has followed him in so referring 
it.” Then come Dillen’s reasons for dissenting from the opin- 
ion of these high authorities whom he has cited. The date of 
Ray’s History is 1688; of Tournefort’s Institutes, 1700. They 
* Greene, Bull. Cal. Acad., i., 276, December, 1885. Gray, Bull. Torr. Club, — 
xiii., 1, January, 1886. 
