142 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



NOTES ON JAMAICAN SPECIES OF CAPPARIS. 

 By William Fawcett, B.Sc, F.L.S., & A. B. Rendle, F.R.S. 



(1) Gapparis cynophallophora L. Sp. PL 504 is based on the plant 

 Capiparis, no. 2, of Hortus Cliffortiamis, 204 ; Linnaeus merely 

 repeats the diagnosis from the earlier work. The full description 

 given in Hortus Cliffortianus points unmistakably to the species 

 usually known as C. jamaicensis Jacq. ; Linnaeus cites Pluk. Aim. 

 126, t. 172, f. 4, as a synonym, but states that the figure differs 

 from his own plant, and omits this reference in the Species 

 Plantarum. A dried specimen from the Hortus Cliffortianus in 

 the National Herbarium is without doubt Capparis, no. 2, of 

 Hortus Cliffortianus, as indicated by R. Brown's MS. note on the 

 sheet. Further confirmation is found in the Linnean Herbarium, 

 where there is a specimen of C. jamaicensis Jacq. named, in the 

 handwriting of Linnaeus, C. cynophallophora. In the Systema, 

 ed. 10, 1071 (1759) Linnaeus enlarges the diagnosis and cites 

 references from Plumier(Ic. 73, f. 1) and Browne (Jam. t. 27, f. 1), 

 and in the second edition of the Species Plantarum (p. 721), which 

 has been mostly used by the older botanists as the starting-point 

 for Linnean names, gives additional synonyms from Plukenet and 

 Sloane, which, with the citation from Plumier, refer to another 

 species, the one known generally as C. cynophallophora, not to 

 C. jamaicensis Jacq. The quotation " Brown. Jam. 246, t. 27, 

 f. 1 " {Breynia, no. 1. Fruticosa, &c.), is somewhat doubtful, but 

 the drawing of the calyx in the plate w'ould point perhaps rather 

 to C. jamaicensis Jacq. than to the other species. In his own 

 copy of Browne's Natural History of Jamaica Linnteus has 

 written Capparis cynophallophora against Breynia, no. 1., but 

 there is no specimen from Browne in the Linnean Herbarium. 

 The plant of Plumier, Plukenet, and Sloane is identical with 

 Linnasus's C. fiexuosa described on the next page (Sp. PI. ed. 2, 

 722), and based on Morisonia fiexuosa Amoen. Acad. v. 398. It 

 is founded on a Jamaican specimen from Patrick Browne which 

 is named "fiexuosa" in Linnaeus's hand in the Linnean Herbarium. 



Under C. siliquosa L. Syst. ed. 10, 1071, are cited two refer- 

 ences— " Brown. Jam. 246, n. 2," and "Pluk. Phyt. t. 327, f. 6." 

 In his copy of Browne's Natural History of Jamaica, Linnjeus 

 has written " Capparis siliquosa" against the species in question, 

 Breynia, no. 2. The original of Plukenet's plate is in herb. Sloane, 

 and is C. loncjifolia Sw., apparently a distinct species, but flowers 

 are unknown. In Species Plantarum, ed. 2, 721, Linnaeus doubt- 

 fully includes the reference to Plukenet, and adds the remark, 

 "Simillima praecedenti " (i.e. cynophallophora). In the Linnean 

 herbarium there is, mounted on the same sheet with a specimen 

 of G. cynophallophora, another specimen named by Linnaeus 

 G. siliquosa, which is only a form of G. cynophallophora L., 

 and supports the view that G. siliquosa is conspecific with 

 G. cynophallophora. 



(2) G. baducca L., which follows cynophallophora in the Species 



