TWO OLD AMERICAN TYPES. 129 



ix. 36) : — " Les noms de Fragarla moschata (Ducb. 1766) et de 

 F. magna (Tbuill. 1790) devraient prevaloir, suivant les lois 

 d'anteriorite, sur celui de F. elatior, publie par Ebrbart (1792) ; 

 mais ce dernier noin a ete generalement adopte, et j'ai cru devoir le 

 conserver moi-meme, puisqu'il a ete cboisi dans cet ouvrage par 

 Mme. Vilmorin." 



Tbe synonymy of tbe plant will run tbus : — 

 F. MOSCHATA Dacbesne, Hist, de Frais. p. 145 (1766). Weston, 

 Botanist, ii. 327 (1771). 

 F. muricata Mill. Diet. ed. 8 (1768) non Linn. 

 F. magna Tbuill. Fl. Paris, ed. 1 (1790), ex Decaisne ; ed. 2, 



254 (1799). 

 F. elatior Ebrb. Beitrage, vii. 23 (1792). 



TWO OLD AMEKICAN TYPES. 

 By Edmund G. Baker, F.L.S. 



I. — Viola palmata L. 



Dr. E. L. Greene, in an interesting and instructive paper en- 

 titled " Bibliograpbical Difficulties in Botany,"" wbicb was read 

 before tbe Botanical Society of America at Toronto last year, 

 instances among otber difficulties tbe case of Viola palmata L. 

 He states tbat "not one among tbe botanists of tbe eigbteentb 

 and nineteentb centuries, knowing our several palmated violets, 

 could say positively wbicb one of tbese it was wbicb Linnfeus 

 intended to designate by tbat specific name jjalmata. From tbe 

 account wbicb be gives of it, by bibliograpbic citation and otber- 

 wise, tbe problem is one of great difficulty." Dr. Greene goes on 

 to say tbat some balf- dozen species, in certain of tbeir common 

 forms, fall under tbe Linnean diagnosis of tins plant — tbat bis 

 description covers V. asanfolia Pursb, V. triloba Scbweinitz, F. 

 heterophylla Mubl., V. septemloba Le Conte, F. emarginata Le Conte, 

 and F. atlantica Brit ton. 



Tbe difficulty wbicb Dr. Greene raises does not seem to us on 

 tbis side of tbe Atlantic irremovable ; and I venture to attempt a 

 solution of tbe problem. 



Tbe Linnean diagnosis in Sp. Plant, ed. 1, 933, runs as follows : — 



" Viola acaulis, foliis palmatis quinquelobis dentatis indivisisque. 



Viola foliis palmatis sinuatis, stolonum reniformibus. Gron. 



Virg. 182. 

 Viola virginiana, platani fere foliis parvis & incanis. Pluk. 



Mant. 187. 

 Viola alba, folio securis roman^ [Amazonise] effigie, floridana. 



Pluk. Amalt. 209 [208] , t. 447, f. 1 [9] . 

 Habitat in Virginia." 



* Printed in the Catholic University Bulletin, Washington, vol. iv. pp. 62-75. 

 Journal of Botany. — Vol. 36. [April, 1898.] l 



