132 The Life and Writings of 



It is certainly not due to any fault of Rafinesque 

 that lie obtained but little recognition in the adoption 

 of his personal name in botanical literature. At least 

 twice he himself sought to establish the genus Rafin- 

 esquia ; the first instance occurring when he appropri 

 ated the Lotus pinnatus as the type of a new genus 

 Rafinesquia, but the plant was later found to be a 

 true Hosackia. The next plant selected was Gardoquia 

 hookeri, which he also named Rafinesquia. The first in 

 stance was based on Lotus Pinnatus of Hooker, Botanical 

 Magazine, t. 2913. This he called Rafinesquia (or Flun- 

 dula) comosa. The description thereof may be seen in 

 the Flora telluriana, 2, 96; it is now known as Hosackia 

 bicolor. The second case was based upon the beautiful 

 genus of labiate plants so well developed in the mountain 

 region of Chili and Peru. This plant was selected after 

 the first one employed had been shown to be well known ; 

 along with its description occurs an amusing defense 

 of his attempt to fix his own name in nomenclature.* 



The Rafinesquia recognized by the present generation 

 of botanists is a genus of Composites, and includes but 

 two known species, the Rafinesquia californica and Rafin 

 esquia neo-mexicana ; this genus, of small geographic dis 

 tribution, occurs only in the southwestern United States. 



*Vide Flora Telluriana, Pt. Ill, p. 6, 1836. 



