OiN HALOPHILA OVATA GAUDICHAUD, A NEGLECTED 



SPECIES. 



By C. H. OSTENFELD. 



(Copenhagen, Denmark.) 



In 1906, while studying the genus Halophila and other marine 

 phanerogams in the Kew Herbarium, I observed a specimen from the 

 Philippine Islands which was labeled "Halophila ovalis Herb. Philip- 

 pinense, 1595, Luzon (5-'92) leg. A. Loher." Although it seemed to be 

 closely allied to Halophila ovalis (R. Br.) Hook. f., I felt sure that it was 

 a distinct species and noted on the label "nov. sp.," but published nothing 

 regarding it. My note was later seen by Mr. Merrill, while he was work- 

 ing at Kew in 1907, and on his return to Manila, he sent me a Halophila 

 collected by himself in Manila Bay in April, 1905, with flowers and fruits, 

 which he supposed to be the same as Lohei^s plant. This specimen is 

 undoubtedly the same species as that collected by Mr. Loher, and is 

 distinct from Halophila ovalis (R. Br.) Hook. f. At first I considered 

 it undescribed, but on closer examination of the material and literature 

 at my disposal and my notes on the species of the genus made in various 

 European herbaria, I found that it is the species described by Gaudichaud 

 in Freycinet's "Voyage autour du monde" as Halophila ovata, the type of 

 which was collected in the Marianne Islands, and now in the herbarium of 

 the Museum d' Histoire Naturelle in Paris. Some years ago I examined 

 Gaudichaud's plant, and noted that it differed considerably from H. ovalis, 

 with which it has been identified by all later botanists working on the 

 genus. Gaudichaud himself quotes Caulinia ovalis R. Br., as a synonym 

 of his H. ovata, and was undoubtedly of the opinion that the two were 

 identical. It seems to have been a mere chance that he altered the name 

 "ovalis" to "ovata" when transferring the species from Caulinia to 

 Halophila. I think, however, that it is correct to maintain Gaudichaud's 

 name, and accordingly for the two species we have Halophila ovalis 

 (R. Br.) Hook, f., and H. ovata Gaudichaud (not of later authors). 



Halophila ovalis is a species of wide distribution in the Indian and 

 Pacific oceans, while H. ovata is at present known from but two regions — 

 the Mariannes and the Philippines. Gaudichaud's description is wrong in 

 many points with regard to the more minute characters of the flowers, 



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