Morris: North American Plantaginaceae 517 



elongata Pursh, * * * but even if so Nuttall's name, now well 

 known since more than 60 years^ ought to be retained in place of 

 a doubtful and very inappropriate one." 



Asa Gray in the Synoptical Flora gives, in the synonymy of 

 P. pusilla Nuttall, '' Plantago elongata Pursh proves to be this, a 

 bad name." Asa Gray "received Jany. i, 1883 " a specimen from 

 Engelmann with his handwritten label, as follows : 



r 



■ 



" Plantago pusilla Nutt. 



sem. 4. maximis foveolatis 

 High Prairies. Fort Union 



on Yellowstone 

 F. V, Hayden 1853-4." 



— an evident copy of one of Hayden's labels. Of this specimen, 

 Gray annotated in his own hand on the herbarium sheet, below the 

 label, as follows : 



*' Received Jany. i, 1883. 



This just answers to, and is 



■ ^ 



from the district of the 



Plantago elongata, Pursh 



(seen in Hb. Kew.) 



But original of Pursh seems to have 



several ovules ! " 



The expression " seen in Hb. Kew.," quoted above, at first 

 suggested that Dr. Gray may have believed the Kew specimen to 

 be Pursh's type of the species, but the following extract from a 

 memorandum by the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 

 clearly indicates that this is not the type : " The specimen oi 

 Plantago elongata, Pursh, In Kew Herbarium seen by Dr. Asa 

 Gray, was collected by Dr. Taylor at Sepulchre Bluffs, Bradbury. 

 There is no specimen at Kew of any Plantago collected by Pursh. 

 . . . The words 'No. 28, Dr. Taylor, Sepulchre Bluffs, Brad- 

 bury * and the name ' Plantago elongata Psh.' are in ink, in the 

 handwriting of Sir William Hooker. But the words ' = P. pusilla, 

 Nutt: and the mark of '!'... are in pencil, in the handwriting 



of Dr. Asa Gray." 



Later than this treatment of the species, the principle ol pri- 



J 



ority as a rigid rule of taxonomic work was renewed ; and 

 Plautago elongata Pursh was given, by many, the benefit of its 

 publication in 18 14 as against the date of 18 18 for Nuttall's 



/ 



