AN ACCOUNT OF THE GENUS ARGEMONE. 311 



n. 272 ! Mexico australis ; prope Mexico, Bnuiy/'au n. G ! in 

 montcolim igiiivomitante Batea, Giiillciiiin-Tcnai/el Plalpuqualiua, 

 Gidliain n, 1830! Orizaba, Brotcrl n. 786! Meissuerl Oaxaca, 

 proi)e Pintepo, Galeoiti u. 4714: ! America australis (spp. omnia 

 (/raiiilijloni) : Ecuador; apiul Sacha, Grisoul, prope Latacunga, 

 Rcmy\ J((iiirsonn.6T2[ Peru; prope Callao, /irtrc/ay ! (Tandichaudl 

 n. 143!, apud Lanya, Bnrclai/\ 13olivia ; prope Sorata, Mandon 

 11. 889! Mi(i. Banr/\, apud CfiiAnga,, PentlajulA Yunga, [yOrhinni/ I 

 Chili ; ad Cobija, Gaiidichaud in Herb. Ddcssert I Coquimbo, 

 Bridqesl Valparaiso, Xuttdll \ Quilotta, C. Gay (spp. cum .1. 

 platyceras var. chincnsis commixta) ! Paraguay ; in urbe Corricntes 

 et in aliis locis sed semper in vicinitate hortorum missionum, 

 Bonplandl Uruguay; Monte Video, prope mare (spp. cum A. 

 mexicana vera commixta), St. Hilaire n. 2416 !, prope littora, 

 Courhon n. 539 ! Argentina ; in urbe Cordoba, Hieronymus n. 199 ! 

 Pampas, frequens, Gillien ! 



Australia: in urbe Sydney, "George Street," etiam in coUibua 

 "Surrey Hills," nuncupatis, Verreaux n. 227 in Herl>. Parisy] 



Herbacea gracilis vel sajpius robusta 45-90 cm. alta, ramis 

 fastigiatis vel patentibus, foliis 8-20 cm. longis, 2-5-7"5 cm. latis ; 

 bracteis sub floras 3 cm. longis, 1-1-5 cm. latis; sepalis 2 cm. 

 longis, cornu G-8 mm. longo, apice spinoso, alabastris 1'5 cm. 

 latis ; floribus var. typicce 3-6, var. ochrolcucoB 3-7'5 cm. latis ; 

 capsulis 4-5 cm. longis, 2 cm. latis ; seminibus 2*5 mm. latis. 



Various attempts have been made to change the name of 

 Aryemone mexicana; A. spinosa Moencli. was proposed with the 

 idea of conserving the oldest specific epithet, that of Bauhin ; 

 A. versicolor Salisb. was proposed out of a mere desire to alter 

 the current name ; A. vuUjaris Spach was proposed in the hope of 

 preventing the confusion that had resulted from the inclusion of 

 one or more white-flowered forms in the original species. All three 

 must be definitely rejected. 



Several attempts have also been made to subdivide the true 

 Aryemone mexicana. A. sexvalvis Stokes is an attempt to separate 

 as a species the forms with six placentas ; this is impossible, because 

 one finds capsules with four, five, and six valves on the same plant. 

 The separation as var. ^. by Torrey and Gray of the form in which 

 the capsules are devoid of prickles has much to be said in its favour ; 

 if we could definitely separate A. ocluvleuca Sweet, as a species 

 apart, it would be very convenient to treat this smooth-capsuled 

 plant as a variety, to be named A. mexicana var. leiocarpa; it is 

 only from a desire to prevent confusion that it has not been 

 separated in the text. The distribution of this form "leiocarjya" is 

 peculiar ; it occurs in West Africa in the Yoruba country, but, as 

 it happens to be the form reported by Gardner as "common" in 

 the province of Piauhuy, in Brazil, its presence in Africa may 

 easily be explained by the intercourse which in slave-dealing times 

 existed between Brazil and West Africa. And as the true A. 

 mexicana is (in spite of the silence of books on the subject) rare in 

 Brazil, being confined to river-banks and to the vicinity of several 

 of the principal seaports, circumstances pointing manifestly to au 



