363 

 New or Noteworthy North American Phanerograms.— V. 



By N. L. Britton. 



TJialictriim dioiciim, L. van CORIACEUM n. var. Segments 

 of the decompound leaves firm, pale beneath, rather dark green 

 above, reniforni- orbicular and broader than long, or obovate, 

 deeply and sharply incised, the lobes rounded. " Plant always 

 dioecious, staminate flowers white, pistillate purple." 



At elevations above 3,000 feet, on Blowing Rock, Table 

 Rock and Stone Mountain, North Carolina. Collected by J. K. 

 Small and A. A. Heller, 1891, and by Professor Porter in the 

 same region many years before. 



Raimncjihts delphinifolius, Torr. in Eaton, Man. Ed. 2, 395 

 (1818) and subsequent editions; not H.B.K. Nov. Gen. v. 48 

 (1821). 



R. imtlHJidus, Pursh, Fl. Am, Sept. 736 (18 14) not Fors- 

 kall(i775). _ 



R. Jiuviaiilis,B\gQ\. Fl. Bost. 139 (18 14) not ofWilld. 



R. Ptirshii, Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. i. 15 (1830) in part. 



R. laciistris, Beck & Tracy, in Eaton, Man. Ed. 3, 395 (1822). 



The name of this plant has had a very curious history, which 

 I am now prepared to trace, having seen authentic specimens ot 

 all the above-cited descriptions. First characterized by Pursh, 

 who gave it a name already belonging to an P^gyptian or Arabi- 

 an plant, it was next alluded to by Dr. Torrey, under the name 

 R. delphinifolius. Pursh's type was collected by Bradbury in 

 " Upper Louisiana," and is preserved in the Herbarium of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Torjey's plant 

 was from New York, and a specimen bearing the label in his own 

 liandwriting is contained in the Kew Herbarium, "7?. delpJiinifoliiis, 

 Torr. in Eat. Man. Ed. 2." In his catalogue of plants within 

 thirty miles of New York (18 19), Torrey adopted Bigelow's name 

 R. fluviatilis for the species; in his Compendium he took R. 

 imiltifidiis, and in the Flora of North America and Plora of New 

 York he called it R. Purshii, never returning to his original 

 name for it. I have been unable to ascertain his reason for this 

 course. Perhaps, he thought this was preoccupied by the 



