Tlie Technical Name of the Catiiaa Plant. 63 



265. In tliis publication, which was a review of Piirsh s Flora, 

 Rafinesque renamed Pursh's Phnlangmm quamash as Quamasia 

 esculenta, thus giving to the camas plant its first name as a dis- 

 tinct genus. 



The generic name C3''aiiotris of Rafinesque has given botanists 

 some trouble from its citation as an equivalent of Camassia. It 

 appears that Rafinesque twice published this generic nanie, ap- 

 parently using it each time in a difi'erent sense. His first pub- 

 lication of it was in 1818 (not 1811 as cited in the Index Kewen- 

 sis), on page 356 of the third volume of the American Monthly 

 INIagazine, where he described under the name Cyanotris scilloides 

 a plant which has been referred sometimes to the northwestern, 

 sometimes to the eastern Camassia. On geographic grounds, 

 however, it cannot be the northwestern plant, and if it is the 

 eastern plant Rafinesque's brief description is not altogether cor- 

 rect, for the leaves are not oblong-lanceolate nor is the capsule 

 trispermous. In the following 3^ear, on page 192 of the fourth 

 volume of the same journal, Rafinesque again published the 

 name Cyanotris, this time basing it upon Michaux's Helonias 

 angustifoUa, a plant which is referred by recent authors to Zy- 

 gadenns. 



The citation and synonymy of the genus Quamasia are as 



follows : 



Quamasia Tlaf. 



Quamcma Raf., Am. Month. Mag. 2: 265. February, 1818. 

 Cyanotris Raf., Aai. Month. ^Nlag. 3: 350. September, 1818. Not Cy- 

 anotris Raf. 1819. 



Lemotris Raf., Fl. Telluf. 2 : 20. 1836. 

 Hnlbedulis Raf., Fl. Tellur. 2 : 26. 1836. 

 Camassia Lindl., Bot. Reg. 18: /. US6. 1832. 

 Sitocodium HaWsh., Gen. PI. Fragm. 27. 18()6. 



A rough synopsis of the species, with the principal biblio- 

 graphical references, may be useful to students who desire to 

 make a critical study of the group. 



* Periayitli more than. IS millimeters in lenqtli. 



t Perianth nearly regular, its parts commonly connicent above the ovary when 

 withering, 5 to 9-nerved, usually 7-nerved. 



Quamasia leichtlinii (Baker). 



Chlorogalum leichtlinii Baker, Gard. Chron. new ser. 1: i'l'ii*.). 1874. 

 Camassia esculenta leiddlinii Baker, Bot. j\Iag. 103 : t. G2S7 . 1877. 

 Camassia leichtlinii Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 20: 376. 1885. 



