343 



%. 1), omitting the analytical details which had already been 

 published by Plmnier himself in 1703 {Gen. t. 26). We find 

 accordingly, in .1759, the addition by Linnaeus of these two 

 citations to his diagnosis of I), saliva (Syst. ed. 10. vol. ii. 

 p. 1294). In 1763 (Sp. PL ed. 2. p. 1463) Linnaeus took up from 

 Burmann's text of 1757 another reference, that by P. Browne 

 . (Hist. Jam. p. 360) to Flnmier's West Indian plant. In 1767 



(Syst. ed. 12. vol. ii. p. 656) and in 1770 (Syst. ed. 13. vol. iii. 

 p. 656) Linnaeus amplified his diagnosis by adding the word 

 tereti, in both instances repeating the citation of Humph, but 

 omitting the reference to Burmann's edition of Plumier. We may 

 add here that in 1768 Burmann (Flor. Ind. p. 315)* dealt with 

 D. sativa exactly as it was dealt with by Linnaeus in the Species 

 Plantarum, ed. 2. p. 1462. 



Summarising the various elements included by Linnaeus under 

 I), sativa we find : — 



1, an American Dioscorea described by Linnaeus in 1737 (Hart. 

 Chff. p. 459) the contemporary figure by Ehret assigned to which 

 (Hort. Cliff, t. 28) was not accepted as valid by Linnaeus till 



, 1753 (Sp. PI. ed. 1. p. 1033); 



2, a Ceylon plant collected by Hermann and published by him 



in 1717 as Rasakinda, republished by Burmann in 1737 as Rossa- 

 kinda and finally written up by Linnaeus himself in 1747 (Flor. 

 zeyl. n. 358) as Dioscorea foliis cordatis alternis, caule laevi; 



3, a Malabar Dioscorea figured by Kheede as Mu-kelengu (Hort. 

 MaJab. vol. viii. p. 97. t. 5l) ; 



4, a West Indian Dioscorea y a figure of which by Plumier was 

 published partly in 1703 (Plum. Gen. p. 9. t. 26), partly in 1755 

 (Burm. PI. Amer. Plum. p. 107. t. 117. fig. 1), referred to by 

 P. Browne in 1756 (Hist. Jam. p. 360) as the ' Wild Yam ' ; 



5, another West Indian Dioscorea cited from Sloane (Cat. Jam. 

 p. 46 and Hist. Jaw. vol. i. p. 140) as Volubilis nigra, folio cor- 



t data nervoso ; 





6, an Amboyna plant figured by Humph as Olus sanguinis 

 I (Herb. Amboyn. vol. v. p. 481. t. 180). 



These for the sake of brevity will be referred to below as D. 



sativa, Linn. [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]. 



I In addition to the six entities enumerated above, the specimens 



which represent D. sativa in the proper herbarium of Linnaeus 

 have to be taken into account. There is only one specimen which 

 has been written up as D. sativa by Linnaeus himself; this speci- 

 men he obtained from Kalm. The second specimen, pinned to 

 the foregoing but not written up by Linnaeus, is an example of 

 a West Indian and South American Dioscorea, frequently accepted 

 as belonging to D. polygon aides, Humb. and Bonpl.,t and nearly 

 allied to but easily distinguished from D. sativa, Linn. [4], the 

 West Indian Dioscorea figured by Plumier. It differs from any 

 of the elements of D. sativa, Linn., and may 'therefore be 



* This is a printer's error for p. 215— the sheet of which the page forms 

 part having been mispaged throughout. 



t There is an element of doubt as to the precise identity of this plant owing 

 to the circumstance that the name D. } olygonoides is applied in herbaria to 

 more than one species; we have so far failed to obtain access to an 

 authentically named example of Humboldt and Bonpland's original plant. 



