Rydbekg : Notes ox Rosaceae 383 



Recta i ; 



This group contains two closely related introduced species. 

 Dr. Wolf regards them as varieties of one. 



Heptaphyllae 



This group consists of a single species, which Dr. Wolf includes 

 in his Grex Ran unculo ides, a mixture of plants of diverse habits, 

 from the groups Heptaphyllae, Aureae, Subviscosae, Subcoriaceae 

 and Nuttallianae. In my monograph I had followed S. Watson 

 in calling the species Potentilla heptaphylla Mill. It is not closely 

 related to that species. For some years I had known my mistake 

 but did not correct it until I did so in the North American Flora. 

 Dr. Wolf had also noticed it and proposed a new name for the 

 species. As his name is a few months older, the species has to 

 bear the following name and synonymy. 



Potentilla Palmeri Th. Wolf. Bibl. Bot. 16: 513. 1908 



P. heptaphylla S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 17: 353; hyponym. 

 1882.— Rydb. Mem. Dep. Bot. Columbia Univ. 2: 62. 1898. 

 Not P. heptaphylla Mill. 1768. 



P. leptophylla Rydb. N. Am. Fl. 22: 310. X 1908. 



Nuttallianae 



Coulter and Nelson, in the New Manual of Botany of the Cen- 

 tral Rocky Mountains, have reduced Potentilla brunnescens Rydb. 

 to a doubtful synonym of P. pectinisecta, to which it has indeed 

 very little relationship. Its nearest relative is without doubt 

 P. Nuttallii. Dr. Wolf, who is even more conservative as a rule 

 than the authors of the New Manual, admits it as a distinct species, 

 but changes the name to P. brunescens, for what reason I do not 

 know. As far as I know, both brunneus and brunnescens are 

 usually spelled with two w's. 



Potentilla Townsendii is placed in the Ranunculoides by Dr. 

 Wolf and placed between P. fragiformis and P. Palmeri; but it 

 is not related at all to either of the two. It has no close relative 

 as far as I know, but must be placed in the group in which I placed 

 it in the North American Flora, unless it is to be regarded as a 

 group by itself. 



