Hill: Celtis pumila Pursh 503 



acaule, growing in depressions of the sand hills in the vicinity 

 of the shrub. Both can be obtained in bloom on the same occa- 

 sion and have always proved true to time. 



The vicissitudes of plant nomenclature are well illustrated by 

 the changes of name to which Celtis pumila has been subjected. 

 The first mention of it is by Muhlenberg (Catalogue, 95. 18 13) 

 where C. occidental is ft pumila is given. . The description is brief, but 

 items set down in connection with it apply — " dwarf, fruit a one 

 celled globose drupe, fl. May ; habitat Penns." Pursh (Fl. Am. 

 Sep. 1 : 200. 1 8 14) seems to have taken up the name of Muh- 

 lenberg, giving it specific rank but not mentioning that of Muh- 

 lenberg as a synonym. The description, though short, applies 

 essentially to this form. " C. foliis ovatis acuminatis aequaliter 

 serratis basi inaequalibus utrinque glabriusculis, junioribus tan- 

 tum pubescentibus pedunculis subtrifloris, fructu solitario. On 

 the banks of rivers, Maryland and Virginia, May, v. v. A small 

 straggling bush; berries ovate, black." The " v. v." indicates 

 that Pursh had seen the plant in a living state. The early bot- 

 anists mainly copied the description of Pursh as one sees in Beck 

 (Bot. North, and Mid. States, 334. 1833) and in Eaton and Wright 

 (N. Am. Bot. 1 86. 1 840). The berries are described as brown and 

 glaucous in both books. Beck gives Muhlenberg's van pumila 

 as a synonym. Nuttall (Gen. 1 : 202. 1 8 1 8) gives as a third species, 

 C. occidentalis and C. crassifolia having been mentioned, " C. 

 tenuifolia. C. pumila, Pursh 1, p. 200? A low bush in the moun- 

 tains of Virginia, flowering at the height of 2 feet. Leaves nearly 

 as broad as long, now and then without serratures, often cordate- 

 ovate, very little acuminated and almost perfectly smooth on both 

 sides. Berries solitary, brown and glaucous." Torrey (Fl. N. 

 U. S. 300. 1824) adds this account of Nuttall to the description 

 by Pursh, not questioning its distinctness, though like Nuttall, he 

 does that of C. crassifolia Lam. He adds the C. occidentalis ,9 

 pumila of Muhlenberg's "Catalogue " as a synonym of C. pumila 

 Pursh but with the mark of doubt. The treatment of Cdtis by 

 Rafinesque in his monograph of the genus (New Fl. N. A. 3 : 3 1. 

 1836) is characteristic. Fifteen species arc made, six of them 

 shrubby. The name pumila is appropriated as his own, being 

 made the equivalent of " C. occid. var. pumila Mg. and some others 



