50 ARKIV FOR BOTANIK. BAND 13. N:0 15. 



n. 891 (K, KU); Eggers n. 1171 (B, M, P) Sine coll. 

 notis: Ex herb. Vaillant (P, Conyza americana Salicis 

 Caprece folio, flore albo. J. R. H. 455 ); Herb. Willd. n. 

 15144 (B, orig. spec. Eupatorii obtusifolii Willd.); Herb. 

 Willd. n. 15622 (B, orig. spec. Cony zee glabrae Willd.); 

 West (Prodr.); 373, in rupibus calcareis prope Mocam, 

 Aug. 1827 (D, verisimiliter coll. Wydler); Eggers n. 196 

 (D), n. 416 (P). 



Though early collected (represented, for instance, in the 

 herbaria of Vaillant, Lamarck and Jussieu) the species 

 did not get its valid name, V . albicaulis Pers., till the year 

 1807. Certainly, there are two older binomial synonyms 

 for it, both of Willdenow, viz. Eupatorium obtusifolium 

 and Conyza glabra, but these specific names are invalidated 

 by Vernonia obtusi folia Less, and Vernonia glabra Vatke, 

 both valid names. Vernonia albicaulis Pers. was published 

 in the same work, even on the same page as its synonym V. 

 longi folia Pers. The latter name has generally been used 

 for the species. When I take the first to be valid, my 

 strongest reason is the fact that V. albicaulis precedes V. 

 longi folia on the page, the former being numbered 11, the se- 

 cond 12. Further, V. albicaulis represents a central- form 

 of the species, V. longifolia an outlying one. Since Gleason 

 in his Revision uses the name V. albicaulis, it will surely 

 not appear too unfamiliar. 



V. albicaulis is the Vernonia of the Leeward Islands, as 

 its near relative V. arborescens (L.) Sw. is the Vernonia of 

 the Windward Islands. It is true that I have seen several 

 specimens collected, according to their labels, in other islands. 

 Collectors, however, have not always been so cautious with 

 their statements as in our days. The labels were often writ- 

 ten a long time after the plants had been collected, and lapses 

 of memory were consequently likely to occur. On the distri- 

 bution of the plants, labels may often have been interchanged. 

 However, these specimens presumably erroneously labelled are 

 very few compared with the abundance of material collected 

 in the Leeward Islands. I have seen the following: Mayer- 

 hoff, Hispaniola, in 1852 (B). In habit this plant agrees 

 exactly with specimens of V. albicaulis from St. Thomas 

 and it may, indeed, have been collected there. No other col- 

 lector has V. albicaulis from Hispaniola. - N:o 370. Coniza 



