234 
Revision of the Genus Asimina in North America. 
By Gero. V. NASH. 
The genus Asimina was founded by Adanson * in 1763. Cates- 
by’s+ figure, on which Linnaeust based his Aznona triloba, is 
cited by Adanson, thus leaving no doubt as to the type of the 
genus. In 1803, Michaux§ gave the name of Orchidocarpum to 
this group of plants, probably from the resemblance of the young 
carpels to the tuberous roots of many members of the Orchidaceae. 
Torrey and Gray || merged Asimina in Uvaria, to which it cannot 
be referred, the difference in size of the outer and inner petals 
readily separating it from that genus. This was the view later 
held by Dr. Gray, as set forth in the Botanical Gazette,** where 
the characters, maintaining Asimina as distinct from Uvaria 
and worthy of generic rank, are indicated. 3 
The genus is restricted to North America, with a possible ex- 
tension into Mexico, if the three or four imperfectly known species 
occurring there prove to belong to this genus, a question about 
which there is considerable doubt. The forms from the West 
Indies, placed here by Grisebach,}+ would seem to belong else- 
where, the uniform size of the outer and inner petals excluding 
them from Aszmina. 
In North America the genus Asimina is mainly confined to 
the southeastern parts of the United States, one species only, 4. 
triloba, occurring as far north as southern New York and Mich- 
igan, and extending to the west, along the Gulf, as far as eastern 
Texas. This appears to be the only one that occurs any great 
distance beyond the general range of the genus, with the possible 
exception of A. parviflora, which, according to Dr. Chapman, in 
his Flora of the Southern States, occurs in North Carolina. I have 
* Fam. Pl. 2: 365. 
+ Nat. Hist. 2: 85. p/. 85. 
$ Sp. Pl. 537. 1753. 
§ Fl. Bor. Am. 1 : 329. 
| Fl. N. A. 1: 45. 1838. 
** 14: 161-2. 1886. 
tt Cat. Pl. Cub. 3. 1866. 
) 
