1 04 Observations on the North American Gratiola,. 



In the present state of botanical knowledge, these remarks 

 will apply to almost every genus which contains species not 

 commonly met with, or extensively diffused. The imperfect 

 descriptions of the elder investigators of our natural pro- 

 ductions, who considered brevity as the very essence of 

 correctness, have left to us and to our successors a fruitful 

 source of contention and doubt. Who can say, that a species 

 designated in Gronovius, only by a solitary characteristic, is 

 identical with any now produced, although that character- 

 istic belongs to it ; when the very mark upon which so much 

 stress is laid, is found not to be peculiar to one species, but 

 common to many ? Shall we appeal to Herbaria ? Age and 

 the distortion produced by preserving these delicate objects, 

 entirely alter their appearance. Besides, the variations oc- 

 casioned by climate and seasons, and difference of soil can only 

 be known to him who examines them in their native situations. 

 A thousand accidents may occasion apparent differences, 

 where none in reality exist. Colour is fugitive and variable ; 

 magnitude inconstant, pubescence frequently the effect of a 

 luxuriant growth, and the want of it, of the reverse ; all of 

 which except in living plants, are apt to deceive. I add to 

 all this, one more fruitful source of confusion, the insatiable 

 desire of discovering new species : but were we able to 

 check this desire, and to come to our investigations with a 

 cool judgment, and a well-regulated disposition to correct the 

 errors of others, rather than to advance our own celebrity ; 

 this would be our first rule of conduct, that to diminish the 

 number of species, is of more benefit to science, than to in- 

 crease them. 



I take up the small genus of Gratiola, almost at random, 

 and find extreme difficulty in clearing it of confusion. Modern 

 errors are heaped upon ancient, and our latest writers instead 

 of throwing aside as useless, the indeterminate species of 

 former botanists, seem to delight in preserving them in the 

 enumeration of what they please to term known plants. The 



