174 PACHYSTIMA CANBYI. CANBY S MOUNTAIN-LOVER. 



which demand that the name first published with a description 

 showing the distinctive character of the plant to which it is 

 applied shall have precedence. 



The derivation of Rafinesque's generic name, Pac/iystima, is 

 not clear. The pedicel, or flower-stalk, is filiform, as given in 

 Dr. Gray's description, but thickens just beneath the receptacle 

 in both the species belonging to the genus, and if the " thick- 

 ness," which the name implies, refers to this feature, it would 

 seem to be appropriate. Rafinesque adopted Pursh s specific 

 name for the only species then known, and thus we had Pachy- 

 stima Myrsinites. In Torrey and Gray's " Flora of the United 

 States " it is, however, described under Nuttall's manuscript 

 name of Oreophila myrtifolia^ or Myrtle-leaved Mountain-Lover, 

 in allusion both to the character of its foliage and its home in 

 the mountains. This species, the P. Myrsinites, has since been 

 found in many of the mountain localities in the Northwest and 

 in British North America. 



The second species, Pachystima Canbyi, was not discovered 

 till 1858, when it was seen by Mr. William M. Canby, of Wil- 

 mington, Del., on a bluff along the New River, near White 

 Sulphur Springs, Va. ; but it was only in 1868 that Mr. Canby 

 was able to procure good specimens, from which Dr. Gray 

 described and named the plant. Subsequently, our species has 

 been collected in several other places in Virginia by Mr. Howard 

 Shriver, and it is quite likely that it will be found not uncommon 

 along the great Alleghany ridge. 



The order Celastracece, to which Pachystima belongs, is nearly 

 allied to the Rkaimiacece, or buckthorns, but differs from them 

 in several particulars, the most characteristic being that the 

 stamens in the latter are always opposite the petals, provided 

 these are present ; while in the former they are alternate with 

 them, as shown in our enlarged flower (Fig. 3), where they 

 are seen fronting the larger sepals, the smaller, oblong-ovate 

 petals lying between. Cclastraccce itself is not a very large 

 order, but is, nevertheless, tolerably well known to most persons 



