Rydberg : Rocky Mountain flora 331 



in reestablishing Rafinesque's genus Othake did not notice this dis- 

 crepancy and the name Othake Hookerianum has hitherto been 

 appHed to the wrong species. The synonymy of the two species 

 is as follows: 



Othake Hookerianum (T. & G.) Bush, Trans. Acad. Sci. St. 



Louis 14: 177. 1904 

 Palafoxia texana Hook. Ic. Pi. pi. 148. 1837. Not P. texana 



DC. 1836. 

 Palafoxia Hookeriana T. & G. Fl. N. Am. 2: 368. 1842. 

 Polypteris maxima Small, Fl. SW. U. S. 1288. 1903. 

 Othake maximum Bush, Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis 14: 179. 1904. 



Both Hooker's description of Palafoxia and Torrey and 

 Gray's description of P. Hookeriana were based on Drummond's 

 specimens, of which there is a duplicate in the Columbia her- 

 barium, and this belongs to Polypteris maxima Small. Hooker's 

 plate also illustrates the same thing. It was not strange that Dr. 

 Small was led astray, for the true 0. Hookerianum is a very rare 

 plant and it was natural to think that the common plant which 

 had been taken for it by Gray, Porter, Coulter, Greene, A. Nelson, 

 myself, and others, should be regarded as 0. Hookerianum. The 

 latter species should be known as 



Othake sphacelatum (Nutt.) Rydb. nom. nov. 



Stevia sphacelata Nutt.; Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 2 : 214. 1827. 

 Palafoxia Hookeriana subradiata T. & G. Fl. 2: 368. 1842. 

 Polypteris Hookeriana A. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 19: 30, mainly, 

 Othake Hookerianum Bush, Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis 14: 177, 



as to the description. 1904. 



Bush gives as a doubtful synonym Othake longifolium Raf.,* 

 but the description does not fit this plant. 0. longifolium is com- 

 pared with 0. tenuifolium Raf., i. e., Othake callosum (Nutt.) Bush, 

 and said to be much smaller in every respect than that species. 

 0. sphacelatum has about twice as large heads as 0. callosum. 



Torrey's description of Nuttall's Stevia sphacelata is rather poor 

 and not ample enough to recognize any species by, but the type, 

 collected by James, is in the old Torrey herbarium and it is un- 



*New Fl. Am. 4: 74. 1838. 



