155 



stem; all the seajjes are isinijjle autl 1-flowered, and tlie 

 specimens are identical with "' typical " M. horrid^da, us 

 originally defined by Hooker and Thomson, and as collected 

 in Tibet by Wellby, Thorold, Littledale, HockhiU, Sven Hedin, 

 Walton and others. It therefore seems clear that although 



aximowicz 



^I.XXKXJ. ^^^5 



on specimens with a central compound scape, he laid as little 

 stress ultimately upon this character as did Hooker and Thomson, 

 who had before them in 1855, when their original diagnosis of 

 M, Jiorridula w^as published, specimens with a central stem^ 

 collected by Hooker himself at Kan-ko-la in Sikkim on August 

 22 y 1849. Since in both cases the same species was- in question, 

 and in both cases the range of variation in habit was equally 

 well known, the question arises why in 1889 Maximowicz still 

 considered M. raceniosa to be specifically different from M. 

 horridtda. The answer is supplied by Maximowicz himself; in 

 M. raceviosa^ as Maximowicz was aware, there are always more 

 than four petals, whereas by implication Hooker and Thomson 

 suggest that in M. horridula there are normally only four petals. 



xs to be remembered, nowever, tnat tne lact tnaD m lU. nor-- 

 ridula there are more than four petals was known to and stated 

 \- Hooker and Thomson in 1855. The difference between these 

 authors and Maximowicz is that they thought to be an abnor- 

 malitv, a character which Maximowicz from the outset treated 



as a normal one- 



A slight misapprehension appears to have crept into the 



scholarlv revision in the Pfianzenrcich in connection with J/. 

 racemosa, Maxim. It is remarked that the authority for the 

 occurrence of M. racemosa in Kansu is a statement to that effect 

 made by the writer in 1906. The statement was made by 

 Maximowicz in 18T6, and the locus classicus of M. racemosa is 

 near the temple of Chobsen, which is situated in Western Kansu, 

 to the east of Kuku-nor and on the western slope of the mountain 

 chain skirted by the Ta-tung lliver. 



It seems possible tlmt aaothcr misapprehension may have 

 occurred. Dr. Fedde has" figured in the Ffianzenreich a capsule 

 of one specimen referred by him to JL racemosa.'^ This figure 

 shows that in the phmt in question the style is much longer and 

 thinner than the stvle in the specimen of J/, racewto^^a figured by 

 Maximowicz in 1889, t which agrees well with the figures given 

 bv Dr. Fedde of the style of M. horridula. We know that the 

 capsule figured as that of 3/. racemosa in the Pflanzenreich v;i\s 

 not borne^y the specimens collected by Przewalski and Potanin, 

 since in both of these plants the styles are like that of typical M. 

 horridtda on the one hand and of Maximowicz's figure of M, 

 racem^osa on the other. It must, therefore, have been borne by 



in Szechuan by Soulie. The tigure given by i;eciae, tnougn uniiKe 

 the capsule of J/, racemosa as figured by Maximowicz, is, however, 

 „,. ^«««t.of^ T-^nrocPiitntinn of ihfi cnosule of M. Prattii, so that 



♦ Das Pflanzenreich [IV. lot], p. 257, lig. 35 m. 

 t Flor. Taiignt. t- 9, figs. 1,2 a and b. 



