152 THE .TOUHNAL OP HOT ANT 



which has petiolate leaves, and yellowish-green flowers with erect 

 carpels and petals 5*5 mm. long; S. Bonnafousi R. Hamet, a plant 

 of very different growth, with petals about 5 mm. long ; and maxiinnin 

 and alhoroseum, which have been already dealt with. 



Sedum vertictllatum L., var. jStippontcum, var. nov. 



In Bull. Acad. Imper. des Sciences de St. Petersbourg, xxix. 141 

 (1884) under *S^. alhoroseum, Maximowicz writes : — -" Formai dis- 

 tinctie duje adsunt : typiea, crassicaulis crassifolia macrophylla, ad 

 quam exempla culta omnia et spontanea Yezoensia pertinent, et 

 nipponiea spontanea : caule gracile, foliis in sicco a3que tenuibus ac in 

 S. verticiUato, cui, foliis oppositis exceptis, omnibus punctis simil- 

 lima. An igitur haic forma nipponiea potius pro var. oppositifolia 

 ■8. verticillafi babenda ? " 



A plant which agrees exactly with the second form above has 

 been grown at Kew for many years under the name ^S'. latifolium (a 

 synonyin of maximum). The flowers (which Maximowicz does not 

 specially mention) are those of verticillafum, and the habit, colour, 

 etc., of the plant conform to that species, not to alhoroseum. Maxi- 

 raovvicz's question can therefore certainly be answered in the aflirmative, 

 and the plant must stand as a variety of S. verticillatum, characterized 

 us follows : — ■ 



Var. NiPPONicuM, nov. var. — Caulis dimidio minor quara in fonna 

 typiea, gracilis ; folia opposita. 



Young plants of S. verticillatum, also weak stems of mature 

 plants, have oj^posite leaves, and sometimes even the lower leaves of 

 strong stems are opposite ; so this variety represents a form in which 

 immature characters are persistent. Probably a wild Japanese form, 

 but at present known only from gardens in Nippon and England. 



THE "EMENDATION" OF LINNEAN PLANT-NAMES. 

 Br THE Rev. E. S. Marshall, M.A., F.L.S. 



Mr. Lacatta has earned the gratitude of botanists by his masterly 

 paper (pp. 97-105) on Leontodon hirtus L. ; and further contri- 

 butions from his pen will be eagerly welcomed. But the footnote on 

 p. 98 seems to me unjustiflable, anyhow as regards this particular 

 case. 



He there remarks : — "Linnaeus wrote [^Leontodoii] liirtum, but it 

 is surely the ne plus ultra of pedantry to perpetuate the false genders 

 of Linnaeus, or of other authors who, like him, in ' Greek are sadly to 

 seek.' " 



Charges of pedantry sometimes react upon those who make them ; 

 and tbe present instance may be an example of this. 



Leontodon is not mentioned either in Liddell and Scott's Greek 

 nor in Andrews's large Latin Lexicon. The form of Xeovrohiv favours 

 a neuter gender ; and Latin words ending in " n " are mostly neuter. 

 Also, in founding a new genus, under his binominal sj'^stem, Linnajus 

 surely had a right to settle its sex. 



