Tlu' Flora of Disko Island and Adjacent Coast of West Greenland. 119 



is given 177] by Oeder in "Flora Danica" fase. X, tab. 567 "LediuH 

 groenlandicum, staminibus corolla brevioribus, foliis ellipticis. Angloruni 

 Labrador-The.''' The same name was used in 1779 by Retzius: "Fl. 

 Scand. Prodr." p. 77 and in 1786 in his 'Observationum Botanicarum 

 fase. IV" p. 26. — In the year 1789 Aiton pubhshed the II vol. of his 

 ''Hortus Kewensis", where he p. 65 deseribes "the Labrador plant, 

 introduced to Kew 1763", as "Ledum latifolium, foliis oblongis margine 

 revolatis, siibtiis tomentos is ^ floribus subpentandrisy — Also Lamarck 

 used the name L. latijoliiim in his '■Encyclopédie" of 1789, p. 458 — 59, 

 as did Jacquin: "Icones plant, rarior. III", tab. 464, 1786 — 93, and 

 WiLLEDNOw: "Enum. plant, hosti regii Berol", 1809, p. 450. In the 

 later literature we find the name ''Ledum latijolium'^ eited now wath 

 Aiton, now with Lamarck, Jacquin or Willdenow, as authors, and 

 more often the name of Retzius is added to Ledum groenlandicum 

 than that of Oeder. 



A broad-leaved Ledum was also detected in Lapland by Wahlen- 

 eerg and described 1812 in his "Fl. Lapponica", p. 103 as |3 dilatatum. 

 He doubts the identity of this variety with L. latijolium of Willdenow. 



Aiton also named 1. c. a "Dwarf-Ledum", (3 decumbens from Hud- 

 son Bay and described it: spithatnaeum decumbens in eontradistinction 

 to a "bipedale erectumi''' 



Of the early American writers Michaux "Fl. Bor. Amerie. I", p, 259, 

 1803 only accepted latijolium (as a form of palustre) and buxifolium 

 (= Leiophyllum), whereas Pursh 1814, "Fl. Amer. Septentr. I", p. 300 

 distinguished : 



1. palustre L. 



|3. decumbens Ait. 



2. latijolium Lam. Willd. 



To the distinguishing charaeters between 1 and 2 Pursh adds, 

 quoted from Lamarck: 



1. palustre. . . .staminibus denis corolla longioribus. 



2. latijolium. .. .staminibus subquinis corollam aequantibus. 

 About decumbens nothins new was said. 



's 



A valuable contribution to the understanding of this last form 

 was rendered by E. Meyer: "De plantis Labradoricis libri tres", 1830, 

 p. 48 — 50. Meyer quotes his correspondent Herzberg, a missionary 

 of the Moravian Brethren and — aecording to Meyer — a "vir botani- 

 carum eontroversiarum plane ignarus." About the plant determined 

 by Meyer, to L. palustre |3 decumbens Ait, Herzberg says: 



