870 AN ACCOUNT OF THE GENUS ABGEMONE. 



Californian plant cannot be separated from A. platyceras proper. 

 Even if it were possible to treat form /3. of typical "plati/ceras" as 

 a species, tbe name A. mimita would still be inapplicable. From 

 tbe figure and tbe description of Durand's plant it is certainly not 

 possible to differentiate it from A. platyceras ; tbe description does 

 not mention, and tbe figure does not sbow, bispidity. Besides, 

 Durand's plant came from California, and, as Mr. Greene justly 

 points out, on tbat side of America A. hispida is confined to tbe 

 Great Basin, and does not "overflow" into tbe true Californian 

 region. However, we find tbat tbe exact locality of Durand's plant 

 is Williamson's Pass, leading from tbe Great Basin to tbe Kancbos 

 of San Francisquito, so tbat we may as readily suppose it to bave 

 been tbe "Great Basin" plant as tbe Californian one. We know, 

 moreover, tbat Lemmon bas collected tbe bispid plant in Mono 

 Pass. Tbe matter is, bowever, set finally at rest by an examination 

 of Durand's own berbarium in Herb. Paris. Not only bas be 

 written the name "^. hispida" on bis copy of Pac. R. Rep. v. t. 1 ; 

 he has placed this plate in tbe same specific cover with a specimen 

 of Fendler n. 16 and with specimens of tbe same bispid plant, 

 collected by Kern and by Bell in New Mexico ; more important 

 still, he has in tbe same cover a piece of tbe plant collected in 

 California by Heerman. This specimen is hispid, it bas petals 

 rounded at the tips, and is in fact tbe same plant as is represented 

 by the flowering specimens of A. hispida (Fendler n. 16). Tbe 

 name A. mimita, therefore, does not apply to the plant so designated 

 by Mr. Greene. While it is true, as Mr. Greene points out, tbat on 

 tbe Californian side A. hispida does not leave tbe " Great Basin," 

 this is not tbe case on tbe eastern side, where it extends beyond 

 tbe limits of the Eocky Mountains into tbe plains of Wyoming and 

 Colorado, so that it interosculates there with tbe form of Aryemone 

 characteristic of the western prairies. Tbe bibliography of that 

 plant will show that in that area no attempt has been made to 

 difi'erentiate tbe two plants ; the glabrous plant that is in this 

 paper referred to A. intermedia, of which species it seems to be only 

 a form, has even been figured under tbe name A. hispida. It is 

 once more tbe duty of American botanists to decide whether it is 

 possible to keep A. platyceras [hispida) and tbe very different form 

 here included in A. intermedia specifically apart; if this is found 

 impossible, it will then probably be necessary to merge A. inter- 

 media and A. platyceras alike in A. alha. 



As regards var. chilensis, separated, with a good deal of reason, 

 as a species both by Sir Wm. Hooker and by Otto and Dietrich, an 

 examination of tbe original specimen on which A. rosea Hook, was 

 founded shows that it is only a hispid example of tbe plant described 

 two years later as A. Hiinnemannii Otto & Dietr. ; these two are not 

 even varietally separable. Tbe name A. rosea must therefore be 

 used for tbe Chilian plant, if it is to receive specific rank. This 

 name does not, bowever, really indicate tbe colour of tbe flowers ; 

 even in the original specimen they appear to bave been white ; 

 they are exactly like those of examples noted as white in the field, 

 and the specimens from the Sandwich Islands, included by Sir W, 



