123 



NEW PLANTS FROM JAMAICA.— II. 



(including notes on some linnean species of coccoloba.) 



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



The genus Coccoloba dates from Linnaeus's Systema, ed. 10, 

 1007 (1759), and was adopted from Patrick Browne's name Cocco- 

 lobis (Hist. Jam. 209) ; Browne's name cannot be revived, as he 

 gives no generic diagnosis. In the Species Plantarum (1753) 

 Linnaeus included the only known species, tivifera, under Poly- 

 gonum ; to this he adds in the Systema four, as follow : — 



" C. pubescens C. fol. coriaceis orbiculatis. Pluk. Phyt. 222, 

 f. 8." There is no specimen of this in the Linnean Herbarium, 

 but Plukenet's specimens are preserved among his plants in Herb. 

 Sloane. In Species Plantarum, ed. 2, 523 (1762), where the trivial 

 name is misprinted rubescens, Linnaeus cites in addition C. grandi- 

 folia Jacq. (Enum. PI. Carib. 19 (1760) ), which is undoubtedly 

 the same plant, and also Coccolobis arbor ea foliis orbiculatis 

 Browne, Jam. 210, and in his own copy of Browne's work at the 

 Linnean Society, has written G. pubescens against this description. 



" 0. excoriata C. fol. coriaceis ovatis." The specimen in the 

 Linnean Herbarium consists only of a leaf-bearing twig which we 

 are unable to refer to any known species. Linnaeus received the 

 plant from Browne, and in his copy of Browne's History identifies 

 it with Browne's C. montana major arborea, foliis subrotundis, 

 cortice levi, which Browne calls " Mountain Grape-tree," and 

 which he says is " frequent about the Cross in Clarendon." In 

 Sp. PI. ed. 2, 524, Linnaeus cites, in addition to Browne's descrip- 

 tion, Jacquin's description of his C. nivea (Enum. PI. Carib. 19), 

 which is the same as C. venosa L., a distinct species. He 

 also adds Browne's query, whether Plukenet's Arbor indica, 

 glycyrrhizce, &c, Amalth. 22, t. 363, f. 4 is the same species; this, 

 as the specimen in Herb. Sloane shows, is not a Coccoloba. 



" ft venosa C. fol. oblongo-ovatis venosis. Pluk. Phyt. 237, f. 4." 

 There is no specimen in the Linnean Herbarium, but the original 

 of Plukenet's figure is preserved in Herb. Sloane ; it consists 

 merely of leaves, the fruit represented in the figure is obviously 

 not a Coccoloba, and is not found in the Herbarium. Linnaeus 

 does not cite Browne, but his diagnosis is copied from Browne's 

 Coccolobis, no. 3 (Hist. Jam. 210), against which in his own copy 

 he has written ft venosa. Browne also cites Plukenet's figure. 

 In Sp. PI. ed. 2, 523, Linnaeus changed the name to C. punctata, 

 and cites, in addition to Browne and Plukenet, Jacquin's diagnosis 

 of C. coronata (Enum. PI. Carib. 19), which is a native of Cartha- 

 gena, in Colombia, and is, in our opinion, a distinct species. A 

 leaf of C. nivea Jacq. from Jacquin's own herbarium in the 

 National Herbarium shows this species to be the same as C. 

 venosa L. This species is apparently widely distributed in the 

 West Indies, but, although it is mentioned both by Browne and 

 Sw T artz as betng native, we have seen no specimen from Jamaica 

 nor any later record of its occurrence there. 



