CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF AROIDEOLOGY. 197 
inches long, 1 inches broad, and furnished at the outer edge with one 
tooth only. The fragment given to Mr. Smith seems to be the lower part 
of a frond, possibly broken off from the specimen now in the British Mu- 
seum. There is little doubt that Hill's plant, gathered two or three de- 
grees south of Endeavour River, is identical with that of Cunningham. 
But, as Cunningham's specimen is without the lower part of the stipes, 
it is impossible to determine whether it was a clerical error or not when 
he stated the leaves to be 3-pinnate. In Hill's very young living 
* 
plant they are bipinnate, but it may be different in older specimens. 
CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF AROIDEOLOGY. 
By H. W. Scnorr, Pu.D., 
Director of the Imperial Gardens at Schönbrunn. 
In the second edition of Linneeus’s * Species Plantarum ’ we have of 
Aroidee only the genera Arum, Dracontium, Calla, Pothos, Orontium, 
and Acorus. With regard to the history of Aroideology, it might not 
be superfluous to recall and put on record a few facts relating to the 
origin of these six genera and their members, the time when they were 
first mentioned, their former nomenclature, and the changes of names 
rendered necessary by a close examination of these plants. At the 
same time it might be desirable to mention the well-known species 
which, on account of imperfect descriptions, were then (1763) not ad- 
mitted, but have since been elucidated and referred to the Linnean ge- 
nera, now more accurately defined, or those genera separated from them. 
The first-named genus (Arum) is characterized by Linneeus (Genera 
Plant., ed. 2, p. 441; 1742) thus :—“ Spatha monophylla, basi con- 
voluta. Spadix clavatus, marcescens supra germina. Filamenta nulla, 
-nisi nectaria basi crassa, desinentia in cirros filiformes duorum ordinum 
Anthere plurime, sessiles, cir- 
urima basin spadicis ves- 
Baccæ uniloculares. 
€ medio spadice egredientium dicas. 
rorum duplici ordini interjectee. Germina pl 
tientia. Styli nulli. Stigma villis barbatum. 
‘owenia is in Herb. Hook., under the name of Dracontium posephyllum, A. 
* : 
Cunn. Hb., but Cunningham gave that name to his specimen n. 288, which is a 
Monstera, and preserved in the British Muscum. 
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