228 houstoun's central American leguminos-e. 



Fl. Virg. This latter, the C. scuiittalis of American authors, is a 

 very different plant from C. pterocmiJa. The matter is further 

 complicated hy the specimens in the Linuean Herbarium, where 

 C. saf/ittalis is represented by two sheets, one of which is the plant 

 just referred to [C. sa;iittaUs Auct. Amer.), while the other is 

 C. stipularia Desv. 



This is one of the cases in which some botanists, with a view 

 to simplifying a difficult problem, would abandon altogether the 

 Linnean name under which apparently three species were placed by 

 Linnaeus. We do not ourselves feel justified in taking such a course. 



Crotalaria fruticosa. There are two sheets in the Herbarium 

 named C. fruticosa, one a wild specimen gathered by Houstoun in 

 Jamaica, the other probably a cultivated specimen from Chelsea 

 Garden, where Miller grew the plant ; both were referred by Solander 

 to C. sagittalis. The wild specimen agrees with some of Rugel's 

 Florida gatherings labelled C. Fiirnhii, and is evidently very close 

 to, if not identical with, that species. Plukenet's specimens in 

 Herb. Sloane, upon which the figure (on which C. I'lirshii is estab- 

 lished) in his Phytographia (277, fig. 2) is based, have broader 

 leaves, but the species appears to be variable in this respect. A 

 plant closely corresponding with this Houstoun specimen is one of 

 the representatives of C. sagiitnlis in the Linnean Herbarium. 

 Miller's specimen of C. fruticosa (with which another sheet from 

 Chelsea Garden agrees) approaches very closely to C. pterocaula 

 Desv. ; and C. fruticosa Mill, is retained by Macfadyen [Flor. Jam, 

 240) for a plant which Grisebach (FL Brit. West Indies, 178) subse- 

 quently referred to C. pterocaula Desv. 



Crotalaria angulata. This is said in the Dictionary to come 

 from Campeachy ; it does not differ from C. biflora L. It seems 

 possible that some mistake in locality has occurred. 



Ononis decumbens. This is named OJ Milleri by Serioge in 

 DC. Prod. ii. 168, as the name decumbens had been previously ap- 

 plied by Thunberg to a Cape species of Ononis. Seringe adds "an 

 potius Indigoferm species"; the plant is, however, certainly a 

 Crotalaria — probably (\ pumila Ort., so far as can be judged from 

 the imperfect specimen. 



Orobus coccineus. In the hidex Kewensis this is identified with 

 a plant figured under the same name name in Lodd. Bot. Cab. t. 883, 

 and the two are referred to Lathy rus spJuericus; Miller's plant, how- 

 ever, bears no relation to that figured by Loddiges. 



Orobus argenteus. There are three sheets so named in Herb. 

 Banks from Vera Cruz, all of them belonging to Tephrosia. The 

 one to which Houstoun's synonym is affixed is a barren fragment, 

 and offers no material foo: determination. Another sheet is Tephrosia 

 nitens Benth. ; the third sheet is probably T. to.dcaria, to which 

 T. Schiedeana Schl. in Linnaa, xii. 299, judging from description, 

 seems to be closely allied. Houstoun's imperfect drawing may refer 

 to either of these, as may also his MS. description. 



CoLUTEA AMERICANA (Vera Cruz, Houstouu, 1730) = Diphysa 

 carthaginensis Jacq. PL Amer. 208, t. 181, fig. 51, as interpreted by 



