BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
CAMBRIDGE, MAssACHUSETTS, JANUARY 27, 1958 VoL. 18, No. 3 
ORCHIDACEAE NEOTROPICALES IV 
NoreEs ON ‘THE GENUS Caularthron Rar. 
BY 
Ricuarp Evans SCHULTES 
CAULARTHRON was recognized by Rafinesque as a generic 
concept distinct from EMpidendrum as early as 1836. It 
was treated as aspecial section of Mpidendrum by Lind- 
ley in 1841 under the name Diacrium. Section Diacrium 
was raised to generic status by Bentham in 1881. This 
is the name which has been applied to the genus by most 
subsequent orchidologists. 
Were the genus large or had it become important in 
horticulture, the resumption of an earlier and unfamiliar 
name might be unfortunate; and the best procedure 
might be an attempt to include Diacrium amongst the 
officially conserved generic names. I believe that this 
procedure should be reserved for names of large genera 
of great economic or horticultural importance, where the 
abandonment of a long and well established epithet would 
lead to extreme confusion. Therefore, | reeommend the 
substitution of Caularthron for Diacrium. 
Our herbaria have not had abundant material of Cau/- 
arthron, nor does the genus appear to have become a wide 
favorite in horticulture. In great part owing to these 
circumstances, it has not been so thoroughly understood 
as we might wish. Recent collections of Caularthron in 
Middle America, northern South America and Trinidad 
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