178 FIRST JOURNEY IN EUROPE. [1839, 



morning, at Richard's, the examination of those species 

 upon which Michaux's herbarium is not satisfactory. 

 Richard boasts of his set as the authentic one (which 

 is true), but it is not as complete nor as good as the 

 other, which is partly owing to Richard having di- 

 vided with Kunth when he could. Michaux must have 

 made a capital collection, since it has moreover sup- 

 plied the general herbarium with a pretty extensive 

 set, and Desf ontaines and Jussieu with many ; others I 

 meet in the Yentenat herbarium (Delessert). They 

 say De Candolle has some of Michaux's plants, and 

 who besides I know not. . . . 



But I have something better than all this to tell 

 you. I have discovered a new genus in Michaux's 

 herbarium at the end, among plants ignotas. It is 

 from that great unknown region, the high mountains 

 of North Carolina. We have the fruit, with the per- 

 sistent calyx and style, but no flowers, and a guess 

 that I made about its affinities has been amply borne 

 out on examination by Decaisne and myself. It is 

 allied to Galax, but " un tres-distinct genus," having 

 axillary one-flowered scapes (the flower large) and a 

 style like that of a Pyrola, long and declined. Indeed 

 I hope it will settle the riddle about the family of 

 Galax, and prove Richard to be right when he says 

 Ordo Ericarcum. I claim the right of a discoverer to 

 affix the name. So I say, as this is a good North 

 American genus and comes from near Kentucky, it 

 shall be christened Shortia, to which we will stand as 

 godfathers. So Shortia galacifolia, Torr. and Gr., it 

 shall be. I beg you to inform Dr. Short, and to say 

 that we will lay upon him no greater penalty than this 

 necessary thing, that he make a pilgrimage to the 

 mountains of Carolina this coming summer and pro- 



