192 University of California Publications in Botany V^'ou 10 



taxonomic position of certain species. Torrey and Gray {op. cit., 

 1888), divided the group into four sections: Euhosackia Benth., 

 Drepanalohus Nutt. (later in the same work changed to Syrmatium 

 Vogel), Microlotus Benth., and Psychopsis Nutt. MSS. Gray (1863) 

 grouped the species within the three sections, Euhosackia, Microlotus, 

 and Syrmatium, and Watson (Botany of California) followed Gray 

 in this usage. Gray and Watson reduced the five species of the 

 section Psychopsis Nutt. as given in Torrey and Gray {op. cit., 1838) 

 to one species, Hosackia purshiana Benth., and assigned this species 

 to the section Microlotus. The section Microlotus of Hosackia as 

 given in Gray 's Synopsis and in the Botany of California differs from 

 Bentham's Microlotus of Lotus by the omission of a single species; 

 this species, Hosackia parvi flora Benth. {Lotus micranthus Benth.) 

 having been assigned by Gray and Watson to the section Euhosackia. 

 On the other hand, the section Microlotus in the Flora of North 

 America contains not only Hosackia parviflora Benth. and Hosackia 

 suhpinnata T. & G. but also Hosackia strigosa Nutt. with its near 

 relatives, and Hosackia maritima Nutt. Torrey and Gray believed 

 that these latter species show a complete transition from the single- 

 flowered species of Microlotus to the umbellate species of typical 

 Hosackia. 



In 1890 Greene remanded all the New World species to the genus 

 Lotus under four sections corresponding to the following genera of 

 earlier authors : Acmispon Raf ., Anisolotus Bernh., Hosackia Benth,, 

 and Syrmatium Vogel. In Engler and Prantl (Die Natiirliehen 

 Pflanzenfamilien) all the American species are referred by Taubert 

 to the genus Hosackia. On the other hand, some of the more recent 

 authors have not only discarded the generic name Lotus for the 

 New World species, but have treated the several groups {Hosackia, 

 Acmispon, Anisolotus, and Syrmatium) as distinct genera. In 

 general, each author's usage has differed from all other treatments in 

 regard to the generic concept and also in regard to the limits ascribed 

 to the species. The various assignm-ents of the species to Lotus and 

 its segregates may be summarized as follows : 



1. All the American species have been referred to the Old World 

 genus Lotus. 



2. All the New World plants have been treated as a distinct genus 

 under the name Hosackia. 



3. The American species have not only been regarded as wholly 

 distinct generieally from the genus Lotus of the Old World, but have 



