322 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



by 1*75 mm. broad at the base, anther 11 mm. (including the pro- 

 longed connective, which is 1'5 mm.) ; ovary subglobose, 8 mm. 

 high ; stigmas 6*5 mm. long, erect, recurving slightly at the apex. 

 Gronovius also cites (1) " Solanum triphyllum, flore tripetalo 

 atropurpureo, in foliorum sinu absque pediculo sessili. Ba)iist. 

 Cat. Stirp. Virg." (in Eay Hist. ii. 1926). There is no specimen 

 in Banister's herbarium which forms part of Herb. Sloane. 

 (2) ** Solanum triphyllum, flore hexapetalo, tribus petalis purpureis 

 erectis, cseteris viridibus reflexis. Plukn. Catesb. Hist. Carol, vol. i. 

 t. 50.'' This, which Linnaeus also cites, we shall consider presently. 



2. Pluk. aim. 352, t. Ill, f. 6. Among Plukenet's plants in 

 Herb. Sloane is one closely resembling this figure, and written up 

 by Plukenet as the same plant (Herb. Sloane, 90. f. 95). The 

 stem, cut off below, is 13 cm. long ; leaves broadly elliptical, 

 scarcely ovate, blunt, 5 cm. long by barely 4 cm. broad ; sepals 

 lanceolate, subobtuse, 2-4 cm. by -6 cm. ; petals lanceolate, sub- 

 acute, 2'4 cm. by -S-'SS cm. ; filaments broadening from above 

 downwards, 3 mm. long by barely 1*5 mm. broad at the base, anthers 

 8-10 mm. long excluding prolonged connective, which is 2-2*5 mm. ; 

 stigmas erect, 9 mm. long, ovary 4-5 mm. long; the stamens over- 

 top the stigmas by barely the length of the prolonged connective. 

 The leaves in the figure are represented as mottled ; it is impossible 

 to say whether they were so in the dried specimen. 



3. Catesb. car. i. p. 50, t. 50. Catesby's figure represents a plant 

 with larger broadly lanceolate mottled leaves, and three elongated 

 oblanceolate purple petals standing erect and conspicuously longer 

 than the sepals. Catesby's Carolina plants form part of Herb. 

 Sloane, where the specimen in question is found on the same page 

 (H. S. 212, f. 59) as his other species of the genus (figured in t. 45). 

 The leaves, however, are elliptical and blunt, not elongated as in the 

 figure, and closely resemble those of the Gronovian and Plukenet 

 plants. They are mottled, 6*8-7 cm. long, 4-4*3 cm. broad ; as in 

 the Gronovian and Plukenet plants they are 3-5-nerved, the two outer 

 nerves being less conspicuous or absent. The stem, cut off at the 

 base, is 10*5 cm. long, and reaches 3 mm. in width. Sepals linear- 

 lanceolate, obtuse, 3*5 cm. by 1 cm. ; petals narrowly liuear-oblanceo- 

 late, subacute, 5 cm. by -5 cm., erect; stamens purple, conspicuously 

 overtopping the stigmas, filaments broadening downwards, barely 

 3 mm. long, anthers including short prolongation of connective 

 (•7 mm.) 15 mm. ; stigmas 6 mm. or more, straight. 



The specimen in Linnaeus' s herbarium named T. sessile is 

 different from any of the above. It is a small plant with narrowly 

 elliptical leaves, and a small shortly stalked sessile flower. Sir 

 J. E. Smith has written ^^pumilum Pursh?" ; it is without doubt 

 T. pusillum Michx., to which we shall presently refer. 



Dealing only with the available types cited by Linnaeus, we 

 might conclude that his T. sessile included two distinct plants, one 

 of Gronovius and Plukenet with subequal lanceolate sepals and 

 petals, and stamens half as long as the petals ; and the other, that 

 of Catesby, with narrowly linear-lanceolate petals nearly half as 

 long again as the sepals, and stamens about one-third the length 

 of the petals. A further difference suggested by Catesby's plate — 



