ASCLEPI ADAGES ELLIOTIAN^. 888 



latis ; capsula 2-2*5 cm. longa, 1'5 cm. lata; stylo 8 4 mm. longo; 

 seminibus 2-5 mm. latis. 



This species has been known in European gardens since 1827, 

 when it was first raised in the garden of Mr. R. Barclay, and was 

 described and figured by Sweet. In certain herbaria, notably in 

 Herb. Kew, where the types of Sweet's, Lindley's, and Hooker's 

 figures are all preserved, also in Herb. Paris and in Herb. DeCan- 

 dolle, the species is well represented ; in others, notably the important 

 Herb. Brit. Museum, there are no examples. It is, however, only 

 the Paris Herbarium that is fortunate enough to possess wild 

 specimens that correspond exactly with the garden-plant so familiar 

 in Europe. These show that it is native in South-western Mexico. 

 Whether the fact that only one gathering of this has as yet reached 

 Europe indicates that the form is rare, or that the province of 

 Oaxaca has been but imperfectly explored, must be left to American 

 botanists to decide. 



This plant is very nearly related to A. alba tt/pica : the differences 

 between them have been already commented upon. It is the least 

 prickly of all the known forms of Aiyemone; even the tips of the 

 lobes of the leaves are often only weakly mucronulate, and it is 

 unusual to find more than a few spines on the stem and branches. 

 Whether it deserves specific rank will depend on the result of future 

 research ; the bibliography of this form and of A. alba var. typira 

 exemplify, however, in a striking fashion the extent to which 

 custom and the tendency to copy from our predecessors often out- 

 weigh in systematic botany the value of actual characters. In spite 

 of the close alliance of these two forms, no one has ever formally 

 united them. The relationship of both to the Argemone mexicana 

 group of forms is much the same; indeed, A. cjrandiflora bears a 

 far greater resemblance to A. ochmleuca than any specimen of A. 

 alba that I have seen bears to true A. mexicana. Yet since 1834 

 not a single author has been found to admit the undeniable right 

 of A. alba to specific rank, while during that period not one has 

 refused to accede this rank to A. r/iandijlora. 



(To bo continued.) 



ASCLEPIADACE^ ELLIOTIAN^. 

 By R. Schlechter. 



(Plate 351.) 

 (Concluded from p. 307.) 



Stathmostelma K. Sch, 



Stathmostelma gigantifloruji K. Schum. in Enyl. Jahrb. xvii. 

 (1894), 129, t. 6. 



Mts. Makindu, Nov. 26, No. 6283. 



Stathmostelma pauciflorum K. Sch. /. c. (1894), 132. S. rejiexum 

 Britt. et Rendle in Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, iv. (1894), 27, t. 6, f. 4-6, 



Shire Highlands, Dec, No. 8567. 



