The Flora of Disko Island and Adjacent Coast of West Greenland. 119 
is given 1771 by Orper in “Flora Danica” fase. X, tab. 567 ~Ledum 
groenlandicum, staminibus corolla brevioribus, folits ellipticis. Anglorum 
Labrador-The.’ The same name was used in 1779 by Rerzius: “FI. 
Seand. Prodr.” p. 77 and in 1786 in his “Observationum Botanicarum 
fasc. IV” p. 26. — In the year 1789 Arron published the II vol. of his 
“Hortus Kewensis”, where he p. 65 describes “the Labrador plant, 
introduced to Kew 1763”, as “Ledum latifolium, foliis oblongis margine 
revolutis, subtus tomentosis, floribus subpentandris.” — Also LAMARCK 
used the name ZL. latifolium in his “Eneyclopédie” of 1789, p. 458—59, 
as did Jacquin: “Icones plant. rarior. III”, tab. 464, 1786—93, and 
WILLEDNow: “Enum. plant. hosti regi Berol”, 1809, p. 450. In the 
later literature we find the name “Ledum latifolium” cited now with 
Arron, now with Lamarck, JAcQguin or WILLDENOW, as authors, and 
more often the name of Rerzius is added to Ledum groenlandicum 
than that of OrpEr. 
A broad-leaved Ledum was also detected in Lapland by WAHLEN- 
BERG and described 1812 in his “Fl. Lapponica”’, p. 103 as B dilatatum. 
He doubts the identity of this variety with ZL. latifolium of Willdenow. 
Arron also named I. c. a “Dwarf-Ledum”’, 8 decumbens from Hud- 
son Bay and described it: spithamaeum decumbens in contradistinction 
to a “bipedale erectum.” 
Of the early American writers MicHaux “Fl. Bor. Americ. 1’, p. 259, 
1803 only accepted latifolium (as a form of palustre) and buxifolium 
(= Letophyllum), whereas Pursu 1814, “Fl. Amer. Septentr. 1”, p. 300 
distinguished : 
1. palustre L. 
6. decumbens Ait. 
2. latifolium Lam. Willd. 
To the distinguishing characters between 1 and 2 Pursu adds, 
quoted from LAMARCK: 
1. palustre....staminibus denis corolla longioribus. 
2. latifolium....staminibus subquinis corollam aequantibus. 
About decumbens nothing new was said. 
A valuable contribution to the understanding of this last form 
was rendered by E. Meyer: “De plantis Labradoricis libri tres”, 1830, 
p- 48—50. Meyer quotes his correspondent HerzperG, a missionary 
of the Moravian Brethren and — according to Meyer — a “vir botani- 
carum controversiarum plane ignarus.” About the plant determined 
by Meyer, to L. palustre decumbens Ait, HERZBERG says: 
