386 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



L'HEEITIER'S SPECIES OF EELHANIA. 



By Spencer le M. Moore, F.L.S. 



The French botanist L'Heritier, as is well known, visited this 

 country in 1786 and 1787, and recorded some of the results of his 

 journey in his Scrtiiiii Anglkuin, published at Paris in 1788. The 

 fine collections made, chiefly in South Africa, by Francis Masson, 

 a few years previously had been deposited in the Banksian herbarium, 

 where, inter alia, L'Heritier studied the specimens of the genus 

 Relhama forming part of Masson's treasure trove, publishing his 

 conclusions in the Sertam, pp. 22-24. Owing to the brevity of the 

 descriptions — brevity customary in those days — and also to the 

 extraordinary neglect shown by authors of British colonial floras 

 in consulting the National Herbarium, L'Heritier's species have, 

 in some cases, been entirely misunderstood. I have recently worked 

 over the Masson types, which are, I may add, authenticated in 

 Solander's handwriting, and the following brief notes will, it is 

 hoped, clear up all the doubtful points which have arisen. They 

 will also, perhaps, serve to point a moral much to the purpose in 

 these days of hasty monographing from the contents of single 

 herbaria — a moral which emphasizes the necessity of a botanist 

 having actual specimens before him if his work is to be of sterling 

 value. 



A. Relhania, L'Herit. 



1. R. sQUARROSA, and 2. R. genistifolia. — These species have 

 been correctly understood by all authors. 



3. R. MicROPHYLLA. — This was placed by De Candolle (Prod. vi. 

 p. 287) among the "species non satis notse " at the end of the 

 genus. The name is not cited by Harvey. To me it appears to 

 be a narrow-leaved form of R. gcniatifoUa ; to be, in fact, 11. gejiis- 

 ti/olia L'Herit. var. angmtifolia Harv. (Fl. Cap. iii. p. 300). 



4. R. passerinoides. — This is made by Harvey a synonym of 

 Geigeria passer inoides Harv., without the least shadow of a reason; 

 and inasmuch as L'Heritier himself states that there is but a slight 

 difference (in leaf) between his it. pas^erinoiden and Pi. viscosa, one 

 marvels as to what Harvey could have been about when perpetrating 

 this absurd blunder. De Candolle [1. c. p. 285) comes nearer the 

 mark, but he is still far astray, for, in spite of L'Heritier's just- 

 mentioned note, while keeping R. viscosa in Relhania, he refers R. 

 passerinoides to FolgcluEtia, a genus merged by Bentham (Gen. PI. 

 ii. p. 326), and, following him, by 0. Hoffmann (Eugler and Prantl, 

 Pflanzenfam. iv. 5. p. 197) in Nestlera. The type-specimen of 

 R. passerinoides, it should be added, has a paleaceous receptacle, 

 and so is not a Nestlera. 



5. R. VISCOSA. — This name will have to disappear, for examina- 

 tion of the type shows it to be merely a fleshy-leaved form of 

 R. passerinoides. It is placed by DC. {I. c. p. 287) among his in- 

 sufficiently known species. Harvey passes it by without notice. 



