10 THE SOURCE OF THE DRUG DIOSCOREA. 



pendix " to the Herbarium Amboinense contains an " Index univer- 

 salis," in Avhich Uhium nuTmnular'mm is referred to Dioscorea villosa. 

 In his preface Burman states that the Linnsean references were 

 taken from a dissertation published by Stickman under the direction 

 of Linnaeus in 1754, and therefore contemporaneous in preparation 

 with the Species Plantarum. The dissertation was reprinted in the 

 Amoenitates Academicae.'' 



The evidence that Plumier's Polygonatum scandens aUissimum^ 

 foliis TaTYini is included in the Linna^an concept of Dioscorea mllosa 

 is not so convincing as in the case of Uhhim nummjulanKm. The two 

 plants are made synonyms in Burman's edition of Plumier, but 

 whether or not with the knowledge of Linnaeus it is impossible to say. 

 Plumier's plate is of an opposite-leaved Dioscorea from the West 

 Indies, a member of a section of the genus to which our species have 

 no resemblance. 



As compared with Dioscorea villosa^ none of our other species are 

 difficult of interpretation. Walter'" published Anonymos (Dios- 

 coreae affinis?) quaternatus, foliis cordatis septemnerviis, nervorum 

 pari extimo bifido, acuminatis, infimis quaternis deinde ternis binis 

 alternisque, caule sinistrorsum volubili, racemis axillaribus pendulis, 

 floribus sursum assurgentibus, and Anonymos (Dioscoreae affinis?) 

 quinatus, foliis peltato-cordatis, 9-nerviis, foliis infimis quinis. 

 Gmelin** later copied the diagnoses and published the binomials 

 Dioscorea quaternata and D. quinata. Walter's herbarium, at the 

 British Museum, contains specimens of neither plant. Dioscorea 

 quaternata was accepted as a good species by Pursh,'' Nuttall,^ 

 Elliott," Beck,'' and Kunth,^ and is interpreted in the traditional 

 way in this paper. D. quinata^ on the other hand, has always been 

 an enigma. 



In 1813 Muhlenberg ■' published Dioscorea glauca^ a nomen subnu- 

 dum. Fortunately, however, his plant is as readily identified from 

 the descriptive name which he chose, and from tlie locality, as though 



» Rnmphii Herbarii Amboinensis Auctuarium (1755). 



^ Amoenitates Acacleuiicae, iv. Diss. Ivi, Herbarium Amboinense sub praesidio 

 D. D. Car. Liunaei proposuit Olavus Stickman. Upsaliae, 1754, ]Maj. 9. 

 c Flora CaroHniana (1788), p. 246. 



•^ Linnaei Systema Yegetabiliuni, ed. 13 (1791), i, p. 581. 

 « Flora Americae Septentrional is (1814), i, p. 251. 

 f Genera of North American Plants (1818), ii, p. 238. 

 s' Botany of South Carolina and Cxeorgia (1824), ii, p. 704. 

 ''Botany of the Northern and Middle States (1833), p. 355. 

 ^ Enumeratio Plantarum (1850), v, p. 336. 

 i Catalogus Plantarum Americae Septentrionalis (1813), p. 92. 



189 



