37 



* BOUVARDIA triphylla; var. splendens. 

 Scarlet Bouvardia, 



TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 

 Nat. ord. CiNCHONACE^, 

 BOUVARDIA. Botanical Register, vol. \i.fol. 107. 



B. triphylla. Supra I. c. 

 B. Jacqiiini. DC. Prodr. 4. 365. 

 Ixora teruifolia. Cav. ic. 4. t. 305. 

 Houstonia coccinea. Bat. Rep. t. 106. 



Var. splendens; omni parte pilosiore, coroUis majoribus et magis coccineis. 

 Bouvardia splendens. Bot. Mag. t. 3781. 



Messrs. Humboldt and Kunth altered the old and common 

 name of B. ti^iphylla into that of B. Jacquini ; and the ex- 

 cellent DeCandoUe, whose judgment is usually so good, 

 adopted the innovation, apparently because there are other 

 species of Bouvardia with three leaves in a whorl. But if 

 such a reason were to have any weight, it would be necessary 

 to make in Botanical nomenclature an enormous number of 

 alterations, besides those, already too numerous, which the 

 progress of discovery renders inevitable. The change of the 

 name in the present instance ought therefore to be resisted, 

 as uncalled for by any sufficient necessity. 



The plant now figured is certainly a variety of B. triphylla^ 

 from which it differs indeed in its more scarlet, brighter, and 

 larger flowers, its more pubescent surface, its more vigorous 

 habit, and in the deep purple stain upon all its branches ; 

 but there is no solid mark of distinction. It has however 

 been regarded by Dr. Graham as a distinct species, and so 

 published in the Botanical Magazine, with the name of 

 B. splendens, under which it is to be found in many nurseries. 



* See Botanical Register, fol. 107. 

 July, 1840. o 



