652 swingle: severinia buxifolia 



tree, but thorny. I did not see its parts of fructification." 1 Al- 

 though a Latin binomial name is apparently assigned to this 

 plant, it is very unlikely that it was intended as a true botani- 

 cal name, inasmuch as Osbeck's teacher, Linnaeus, strongly 

 objected to generic names ending with -oides. 2 At any rate 

 the description is insufficient to identify the plant, of which 

 Osbeck did not see the flowers or fruits. So far, the Cantonese 

 name Sau-pann-gipp cannot be traced, but Loureiro gives for 

 his Limonia monophylla a similar Cantonese name, Sao peng lac, 3 

 "lac" being perhaps the common Cantonese word lak, meaning 

 thorn. 



In 1798 Poiret described in the Encyclopedie methodique of 

 Lamarck, as Citrus buxifolia, a plant which had been found in 

 China by Sonnerat. The latter had forwarded specimens of it 

 to Citizen Lamarck, in whose herbarium Poiret had examined 

 them. 



Already in 1790 Loureiro in his Flora Cochinchinensis had 

 described this same plant, but had referred it erroneously to 

 Limonia monophylla L. 



In 1825 David Don in his Flora of Nepaul described, as a 

 new species, Limonia retusa. Although the description is very 

 short and the writer has had no opportunity of examining Don's 

 specimens, it seems very probable that Don's diagnosis refers 

 to the plant in question. 



Another obscure name, Limonia microphylla, published in 1828 

 by Voigt, would seem to belong here. Voigt's article is a descrip- 

 tion of the plants cultivated in the Jena Botanic Garden and the 

 descriptive phrase following the name reads merely " folia Buxi 

 apice emarginata, crenata." This phrase, however, seems to 

 warrant considering Voigt's plant identical with the one in ques- 

 tion. 



1 Buxoides aculeata. Obs. kallas pa Chinesiska Sau-pann-gipp; och liknar 

 war Buxbom; men ar taggig. Fructificationen blef jag aldrig warse. — Osbeck, 

 Pehr. Dagbok ofwer en Ostindisk Resa, p. 242. Stockholm, 1757. 



2 "Nomina generica in oides desinentia, e foro Botanico releganda sunt." 

 Linnaeus, C. Philosophia Botanica, §226. 1751. 



3 Loureiro, J. Flora Cochinchinensis, 1: 271. 1790. 



