;[10 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



"On fi succeeding page, in a note under Poa _ (Dnpontia) 

 a5e/%erft,Euprechtmade the observation that these various sections 

 diftered from one another in certain characters : ' Atropis Trin. 

 (P. distans) Catabrosae quoad glumas proxima, spiculas habet 

 (saltern in statu virgineo) Hneares, fere teretes ' (Kupr. /. c. 64) ; and 

 ' From the condition of the glumes perhaps a series of genera as 

 follows : Dupontia, Arctophila, Poa, Atropis, Catabrosa, Phippsia, 

 Coleanthus.' The enumeration of these plants as species of 

 Poa, Poa (Atropis) distans, etc., by Euprecht (or Trinius through 

 Euprecht) and then the giving on a subsequent page of brief, in- 

 adequate characterisations with the suggestion that these sections 

 of Poa are ' perhaps ' genera, does not, it seems to us, clearly 

 estabUsh Atropis and others so treated as well pubhshed genera 

 dating from 1845. And it is notew^orthy that most authors who 

 take up Atropis cite not only the Euprecht reference but the later 

 reference to Grisebach in Ledebour (Fl. Eoss. iv. 388, 1853) as 

 vaUdating the genus. Grisebach, in Ledebour, certainly gave a 

 clear generic characterisation and treated the species unequivocally 

 as species of Atropis, so that Atropis as a well pubhshed genus 

 should date from Grisebach's treatment in 1853. In 1848, how- 

 ever, Parlatore, with equal clarity and completeness had charac- 

 terised Puccinellia as a genus to include some of the species, 

 P. distans and P. maritima, later placed by Grisebach under 

 Atropis : and it seems to us that the cause of sound nomenclature 

 is best served by maintaining the fully and definitely pubhshed 

 Puccinellia Parlatore (1848) rather than the inadequately and 

 uncertainly pubhshed Atropis Trinius in Euprecht (1845, vaUdated 

 by Grisebach in 1853)." 



The date— 1848— assigned to the volume of the Flora Itahana 

 is that which appears on its titlepage, but Itahan titlepages are 

 not always conclusive evidence : in periodicals they are sometimes 

 issued with the first number for the year. It would be worth 

 while to ascertain whether the Flora was issued in parts : the 

 printed lorapper of vol. i bears date 1850 : the volume contains 

 568 pages — Puccinellia comes about the middle (pp. 366-371). 



EEAUMUEIA ALTEENIFOLIA comh. nov. 



By James Beitten, F.L.S. 



We have in the National Herbarium an authentic specimen 

 of Hypericum alternifoliujii La Bill., endorsed by Dryander 

 " Syria. J. J. La Billardiere, M.D.," and written up by him with 

 its name and place of publication. It was pubhshed by La 

 Billardiere in his Icones Plantarum Syrice Bariores, decas ii. (1791), 

 where the plant is figured and fully described (t. 10, p. 17). 

 Willdenow (Sp. PI. ii, 1250, 1799) transferred it to Beaumuria as 

 B. hypericoides ; and the name was adopted by Poiret (Encycl. vi. 

 87, 1804) and Persoon (Syn. ii. 85, 1807) ; La Billardiere's plant 

 being in each case the only one referred to. 



