186 ESSAYS. 
dromus,” the terms convoluta and contorta are seemingly 
employed synonymously, or nearly so (the latter most fre- 
quently) ; at least I see no difference between the zstivation 
of Allamanda, said to be contorted, and that of Vinca (rosea), 
said to be convolute. Endlicher in this regard follows the 
“ Prodromus.” In the new “ Genera Plantarum” by Ben- 
tham and Hooker this mode is most commonly designated as 
contorta, sometimes as contorto-imbricata, rarely (Philadel- 
phus, ete.) convoluta.. I have myself, from a period as early 
as 1340, employed the term convolute, thinking it unadvis- 
able to have two names for the same thing, and wishing to 
restrict, if it might be, the term contorted to cases of torsion. 
Adrien de Jussieu, on the other hand, used convolute (with 
strict Linnean propriety) for regular imbrication with a high 
degree of overlapping, thus giving two names to different de- 
grees of the same thing. 
It being conceded, I presume, that the mode II should be 
specifically distinguished, what name, on the whole, ought it 
to bear? If we follow prevalent usage, contorta will be the 
term. But this term was unknown in this sense to the found- 
ers of «stivation, Linnzus and Brown; it correctly expresses 
the real state of things in only a few cases; and where there 
is torsion, it leads to a most awkward way of expressing it. 
We have to write — “ lobes of the corolla contorted and 
twisted: corolle lobi contorti et torti,” introducing dextror- 
sum or sinistrorsum,! to express the direction of the overlap- 
ping and of the torsion, which are not always the same. So 
the most current name is the least appropriate. Convoluta 
is as good a name as can be, and its use in the present sense 
is not unconformable with the Linnzan use in vernation. 
When well carried out, three or five or more petals, as the 
case may be, are simply rolled up together. When the over- 
lapping is slight, there is simply the tendency to convolution. 
But if, as in other nomenclature, priority gives a paramount 
1 [ note with satisfaction that Bentham and Hooker use these terms to 
signify from left to right, or from right to left, of a person, supposed to 
stand outside of the closed bud, which is surely the natural position of the 
observer. 
