ELISIA— AN OVERLOOKED GENUS-NAME 263 



"Elisia mutabilis Nobis. Datura Bicolor Mor. 

 " Elisia pericarpio scabro quadriloculari, quadrivalvi ; foliis ovatis 

 atrovirentibus, mollibus, erasse petiolatis, serratis ; fiore mutabili. 



" This little shrub though apparently like the preceding, is never- 

 theless less elegant in its form, less lively in its colour,*its exhalation 

 is more injurious to the lungs, and has more dangerous qualities. It 

 is not so high as E. formosissima, and it seems diminutive in all its 

 exterior appearance. Its corollas are not precisely of two colours, as 

 indicated by the specific name, bicolor, given to it by the Botanists ; 

 but it changes in the different hours of the day, passing from the 

 whitish to the reddish or yellowish colour, and we observed these 

 different gradations of hue in the same plant, and at the same hour. 

 Hence, we have called it E. mutabilis. This effect is produced by 

 the influence of light, which induces chemical changes in the fluid. 

 Whoever observes this curious phenomenon for the first time, will 

 certainly be surprised, and consequently may be deceived by the 

 illusory appearance, if he does not examine it attentively at different 

 times. 



"Elisia laciiniata Nobis. Species Nova (?). 

 " Elisia pericarpio rufido, quadrivalvi, biloculari ; foliis sub- 

 laciniatis breviter petiolatis, glabris. 



" This elegant shrub may be said to be a diminutive of the first 

 species in its dimensions and properties. It is woody, perennial, with 

 its bark lighter yellow than the E. formosissima. It is particularly 

 distinguished by its deeply cut, glabrous, petiolate leaves. The colour 

 of its subcampanulate and prismatic corolla is unchangeable, except in 

 the warmest hours of the day. 



" Medical properties. — The inhabitants of the plains of Venezuela 

 and Nueva Grenada, use the leaves and flowers of E. mutabilis and 

 other Elisias in making a potion or smoking it as we do with tobacco. 

 Some experiments, made by my friends and myself, confirm ^the 

 common opinion of their beneficial effects in cases of asthma, The 

 Indians stupefy and kill their enemies with a kind of starch or white 

 powder which they extract from its seeds. ... I have obtained from 

 the leaves, flowers, and tender branches of the above mentioned three 

 species of Elisia, a fine white powder, with bitter, nauseous and 

 caustic taste : treating it with sulphuric acid, it crystallizes in an 

 acicular form, giving fine shining needles of sulphate of elisme. which 

 name I have adopted in the belief that elisine and daturine aie 

 essentially different. It is very like daturine in its external appear- 

 ances, but I have had no opportunity of making comparative experi- 

 ments to determine its specific characters. — Milano." 



Botanists familiar with the genus Datura will note that the 

 proposed new genus, Elisia, is synonymous with Brugmansia Persoon 

 (Synops. PI. i. 216, 1805), with which name Milano was presumably 

 unacquainted. The new name is therefore unnecessary even though 

 we agree with Persoon and Milano in segregating the South American 

 tree ^Daturas as a distinct genus. Dr. Safford maintains the more 

 o-eneral practice of regarding the group merely as of sectional value. 



In two out of three species Milano has " thought it convenient " 

 to alter the trivial owing to the non-distinctive or misleading character 



