4,26 FLORA HISTORICA. 



RUDBECKIA. Rudbeckia. 



Natural Order Composite Oppositifolice. Corym- 

 biferce, Juss: a Genus of the Syngenesia Poly- 

 gamia Frustranea Class. 



This genera of plants, of which we have nine 

 species, are all indigenous to North America; 

 but Miller tells us that he received seeds of one 

 of the species from Siberia, as well as from 

 North America, and this justifies what we have 

 frequently noticed in regard to plants, that some 

 of the genera are generally to be found in the 

 same latitude of the Old World, excepting in in- 

 stances where the altitude of situation differs 

 materially. 



This family of plants was named Rudbeckia, 

 in honour of Olaus Rudbeck, a Swedish phy- 

 sician, who founded the botanical garden of 

 Upsal. His son succeeded him as professor of 

 botany and anatomy, and who afterwards joined 

 Berzelius in founding the Swedish academy. 

 The father died in 1702, and the son in 1740 ; 

 and as Linnaeus gave his first lectures on botany 

 in 1730, when he was only in his twenty-fourth 

 year, it is more than probable that this great man 



