Dr. Smith's Remarks on Ihjperkum calijcinum. 36? 



of Bauhin, described in liis Prodromm, p. 130, from Burser's 

 specimen, and therefore to be ascertained by the herbarium of 

 the latter at Upsal. On turning to Linnacus's own copy of Bau- 

 hin, I found a mark indicating that he had made this inquiry, 

 and the result is recorded in an unpublished manuscript note in 

 the first edition of his Species Plantarum to the following effect: 

 " The true LinniT^an Hypericum Ascyron is the same with that of 

 Burser. Its stem is perfectly straight and altogether herbaceous. 

 If therefore the plant of Wheeler be shrubby and inclining, it is 

 certainly another species." 



In consequence of this discovery of Linnaeus, the synonym of 

 Wheekr is not given under H. Ascyron in the second edition of 

 Sp. PL, though that of Morison is still retained, Linnteus not 

 having perceived that Morison figures Wheeler's plant, while the 

 latter°pait of his description only belongs to it, the former being 

 transcribed from Bauhin's Prodromus. Such faults are common in 

 writers who work on the plan of Morison, and he errs also in men- 

 tioning Mount Olympus as the place where Sir George Wheeler 

 gathered his plant. But though Linnaeus rejected Wheeler's 

 synonym for his H. Ascyron, he has not either referred it to any 

 other old species, nor described it afresh as a new one, at least 

 in the Sp. Plantarum. In his Mantissa indeed, p. 106, he has de- 

 scribed the species in question by the new name of Hypericum 

 calycinum, but without any synonym ; and he had now so totally 

 forgotten his former note, and the reference to Wheeler's Journey, 

 that he gives North America, with a doubt, as the native coun- 

 try of his calycinum. This was a mere guess, devoid of all founda- 

 tion. The specimens of this species in his herbarium appear to be 

 garden ones ; so does the original authentic one of his H. Ascyron, 

 though to the latter he has pinned a plant raised by Gronovius 

 from Pennsylvanian seed, which is H. pyramidatum of Hort. Kew. 



recently 



