Howe: Phycological studies 575 



Caiilerpa pinnata Web.-v. Bosse, Ann. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg 15 ; 



289. 1898. Not Fitcus pinnattis L. fil. Suppl. 452. 1781. 



Under the name Fiictis pimiatus^ m the Linnaean herbarium, 

 now in possession of the Linnean Society of London, is a single 

 sheet of four or five fragmentary specimens which agree with the 

 somewhat detailed original description sufficiently well to leave no 

 reasonable doubt that they represent the type material of that spe- 

 cies. The natural form of the plant is somewhat modified by dry- 

 ing and pressure, yet it is evident that the pinnules are cyHndrical 

 (or clavate), as afterwards figured and described by Turner (Flist, 

 Fuc. I: 117. pL S3,) and that the plant belongs in the section 

 Sedoideae (J, Ag.) of Caulcrpa, being close to C. raccviosa coryne- 

 phora (Mont.) Web,-v. Bosse.f In the younger parts q{ the speci- 

 mens the pinnules are distinctly inflated at their apices and are 

 less regularly distichous ; it is probable that this character sug- 

 gested the Linnaean words which puzzled Turner: ** Inflorescentia 

 est racemus ex verticillis cum fructificationibus pedicellatis, pel- 

 tatis, planis." 



Madame Weber in her scholarly '' Monographic des Cau- 

 lerpes " refers to an authentic specimen of the Fncns pinnahis of 

 Turner in the herbarium of the British Museum. This specimen 

 of Turner's we hav^e not seen, but if it belongs to the Filicoid 

 rather than the Sedoid group, the apparent disagreement with 

 Turner's description and figure should suggest doubts as to its 

 authenticity or suggest the possibility that Turner's material was 

 mixed. In any event, the true type of Fncns pinnatus L. fil. should 

 be sought in the Linnaean herbarium rather than in that oi the 

 British Museum. 



In the Agardh herbarium at Lund are two specimens which, 

 judging from the original citation, probably served as originals of 

 the ''Caulerpa iaxifolia ^ crassifoliay Oi these only one is actu- 

 ally associated with the name ci-assifolia ; this is a fragment in a 

 pocket inscribed ''Caul, taxifolia van crassifolia Ag. e man An- 

 tillarum mis. SprengeL" This is suggestive of the familiar figure 

 of C. crassifolia given in the Pflanzenfamilien of Engler and Prantl, 



Mr. B. Daydon Jackson informs me that the handwriting is that of the younger 

 Linnaeus, whom he considers to be the real author of the " Supplementum.^' 

 t Ann. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg 15 : 360, 364. //. 33. /. rch-13' ^^98- 



