324 



Pergularia, nor to any other plants at present known in the whole 

 of the Asclepiadaceae, since the structure of Doemia is peculiar 

 and not to be mistaken for that of any other genus. Under 

 Pergularia, Linnaeus {Mantissa i., p. 53) has described only two 

 species, viz., P. glabra and P. tomentosa. On referring to the 

 Linnean Herbarium it is found that the two species are represented 

 as follows : — P. glabra consists of a very good flowering specimen 

 of Vallaris per girt 'anus, Burm. fil., which is a native of Java and 

 the Malay Peninsula, and belongs to the order Apocynaceae, 

 having a floral structure totally different from Linnaeus's generic 

 characters, so that this plant is certainly not the one on which he 

 established the genus Pergularia, 



P. tomentosa consists of a piece of stem with two pairs of leaves, 

 without flowers or buds. This specimen has a label on which is 

 written in somewhat large handwriting " No. 19," and the word 

 " Chin " (intended for China) in the small writing of Linnaeus, 

 and on the back of the sheet Linnaeus has written as follows :— 

 " Macao China Theologi catholici ex hujus succo lacteo pparant 

 medicinum pro dysenterica." But Linnaeus states under P. 

 tomentosa, first, that it is a native of Arabia, collected by 

 Forskohl, secondly, by the letters " 1L TJ." at the end of the 

 description, that it was cultivated in the Botanic Garden at Upsala. 

 hrom this, therefore, as well as from the fact that there are no 

 flowers from which he could have constructed his generic 

 characters, it is quite clear that the Chinese specimen (which may 

 possibly have been collected by Osbeck) is not the type of the 

 description of P. tomentosa . Therefore, so far as generic identifi- 

 cation is concerned, there is no specimen, named Pegularia by 

 h,hl lfi im f ' ' "U liS Herbari ™, to represent this genus as 



menirl hvq- f ^VT* ° f generic identification was com- 

 S pr by l lv J ? m : s Ed ward Smith, who, in his Icon* Pictae, 



ZmZLl 'in*^ ^ T fied the C T h T ine8e s P ecimen named Pergularia 



tZ! ;^f° Lu ™»* Herbarium with that which he 

 ideTfiraLn h ( - B0 , f lT China ) as R odorahssima ; in this 

 tota J lvd?flWn? e i 18 doubtIe T ss eorrect > but as stated above, it is a 

 Pt nm^fofnt ^ V r ° m ?5* ° n which Linnaeus's description of 

 P.tS^Z^J*^™ ^™g in referring 



Sm. After- 



tl; onfusio7bv° Wn D M T' Wem - Soc - *> »• «» added t0 

 estabTish?u??h^ repeat A n S the error made by 'Smith, and by 



without refeinof 7 8 ^ ma (with cb aracters by which alone, 



no i Lossibh ITZ ■ th fx s P ecimens quoted, the genus could 



av e P seen y or H7T? d) I?™ the ver ^ P lant s Linnaeus must 



Pergularia sinofL ^ him When he described the genus 

 ZZZJT^h Slnce there are none in anv ntw **«„« *w will 



accord with his verv careful Z i T 7 • geUUS that W1 " 



where the desc-int on tl t • Cl ? ar description. This is a case 



the specimen "n P hiq & k^^ 8 is baSed u P on one P lant > whilst 

 scriptionT a total I ?' rbanum ; supposed to represent the de- 



areotn^infreQue, Ui 6rent plant Such cases, unfortunately, 

 to liSSK^SSL? t?***™:*** this is emphasised, with regard 



Linnean Herbar iZ ^u 7 ?° fact that tbe »P^en in the 



ing specimen of 7v!lv I European plant, but is a good flower- 

 pecimen of Doemia externa, R. Br. Indeed. I susoect that this 



