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XXII. Observations on the Species of Fedia. By Josern Woops, Esq., F.L.S. 
Read April 21st, 1835. 
MODERN botanists are generally agreed that the several varieties of the 
Valeriana Locusta of Linnzeus, with the addition of one or two allied species, 
form a very natural genus, separated from Valerian by habit as well as by the 
want of a feathery crown to the seed. For this they have mostly adopted the 
name of Fedia, of uncertain derivation, though supposed by some authors to 
come from Hedus, or Foedus, a kid. It was first introduced by Adanson, 
but, according to De Candolle, not applied by him to this genus. De Candolle 
himself again separates from this group two plants, which differ from the rest 
in having a ringent flower with a long tube, and only two stamens. To these 
- he confines the name of Fedia, and calls the others Valerianella. I am not 
disposed to follow him in the separation of these genera, and still less so in - 
his nomenclature. Even if out of respect for Tournefort, whose name Lin- 
naeus appears to have altered merely to please his ear, we prefer Brunella to 
Prunella; and if we restore Lampsana, a name adopted by Vaillant from 
Dioscorides, to the place of Lapsana, there is still no sufficient reason for 
adopting such a name as Valerianella. The rules given by Linnæus for the 
formation of generic names are perhaps in some instances arbitrary and fan- 
ciful; but those which direct us to avoid diminutives and names compounded 
of those of other genera are so evidently just and reasonable, that one is apt 
to suspect that those who refuse them are under the influence of some preju- 
dice, or are guided by national partiality. The French botanists complain 
that Linneus was sometimes misled by an unworthy jealousy of the talents 
and reputation of Tournefort. Do they not themselves show a wish to depre- 
ciate Linnaeus, and to keep him out of sight as much as possible? 
We are indebted, I believe, to De Candolle for pointing out some excellent 
subdivisions in this genus, taken from the structure of the fruit. He distin- 
guishes : 
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