ROBINSON: POLYCODIUM §53. 
emphasis on articulated pedicels as a means of distinguishing the 
Thibaudieae from the Vaccinieae but, unfortunately, has gone 
far beyond the facts. 
One character remains to which Professor Greene has called 
particular attention, the open aestivation of the corolla. All 
evidence that has been obtained confirms his statement on this 
point for every species of Polycodium, including V. Kunthianum. 
This does seem of such importance that the genus may properly 
be maintained; the other characters previously mentioned may 
be treated as collateral, by one who is dealing with the species of 
America north of Mexico, but it must be remembered that not 
one of them can be relied on to distinguish Polycodium from all 
other genera, even within the limits of North America. 
Rafinesque* published Polycodium thus: ‘‘67. The species of 
Vaccinium with campanulated corollas, must form a peculiar 
genus or subgenus, Polycodium. In fact the whole tribe of 
Ericacea or Bicornia must be newly modelled.’ And this is all, 
with one very important exception. The paragraph occurs in a 
review of Pursh’s Flora Americae Septentrionalis and may fairly 
be interpreted by reference to that work. Pursh divided Vac- 
ciniumt primarily into species with deciduous leaves and those with 
evergreen leaves, dividing each of these in turn on the basis of 
campanulate as contrasted with urceolate corollas. His species 
with deciduous leaves and campanulate corollas were V. stami- 
neum, V. album, V. arboreum, V. dumosum, V. frondosum, and V. 
pallidum; those with persistent leaves and campanulate corollas 
were V. Vitis-Idaea, V. myrtifolium, and V. crassifolium. Vac- 
cinium stamineum thus comes first, and V. album Pursh is regarded 
by most authors as the same species. Polycodium, therefore, may 
be held to be typified by Vaccinium stamineum L., but Rafinesque’s 
genus in its entirety was a mixture of widely differing elements, 
including representatives not only of Batodendron but of Gay- 
lussacia and of different sections still included in Vaccinium by 
nearly all authors. 
Picrococcus of Nuttall is based almost entirely on Vaccinium 
* Am. Monthly Mag. 2: 266. 1818. 
T Fl. Am. Sept. 1: 284-290. 1814. 
