BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
CampripGr, Massacuusetts, Fesruary 6, 1950 Voi. 14, No. 4 
STUDIES IN THE GENUS HEVEA III 
BY 
RicHarp Evans ScHuutres! 
ON THE USE OF THE NAME HEVEA BRASILIENSIS 
For some time, it has been believed by certain author- 
ities that Hevea brasiliensis, the name long used to de- 
note the well known cultivated rubber tree, is untenable 
if the International Rules of Botanical Nomenclature 
be strictly interpreted. 
Several botanists have written on the complicated 
problem which underlies this presumed untenability, 
treating it from differing points of view and with diverg- 
ing conclusions. This divergency of opinion has led to 
uncertainty amongst taxonomists not only concerning 
the actual status of the name Hevea brasiliensis, but also 
as to the authorities to whom it should be attributed. 
In 1858, Baillon (Etude Euphorb. (1858) 326) pointed 
out that the name Stphonia brasiliensis HBK. had been 
applied apparently to two distinct plants: one from the 
Orinoco and one from the lower Amazon. He proposed 
to reserve Stphonia brasiliensis for the latter—which is 
our cultivated species—and published a new name (:S?- 
phonia Kunthiana Baill.) for the former. 
Later, in 1900, Warburg (Kautschukpflanzen (1900) 
'Botanist, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engi- 
neering, Agricultural Research Administration, United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture; Research Fellow, Botanical Museum, Harvard 
University. 
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