AN IMAGINARY BLUNDER 289 



and hopes to arrive at a more natural grouping than has 

 hitherto obtained, of the Poaceae especially. 



And on August 16 he is staggered by * a hideous blunder 

 in the Fl. Brit. India which fell under my eyes accidentally 

 two days ago, and was nearly followed by a stroke of paralysis.* 

 He found that the plant listed as Panicum latifolium of Linnaeus 

 had nothing to do with the latifolium of Kunth, and there was 

 no latifolium in the Kew Herbarium ! It should be zizanioides. 



But the blundering he could not trace turned out to be 

 no blunder at all. ' Now I recollected ' (he writes on Oct. 21) 

 'that I took the name from Linn. Herb., so I went there 

 the other day, and sure enough a fine specimen of oryzoides 

 [zizanioides] is named in Linnaeus' own hand P. latifolium, 

 so oryzoides is latifolium Linn. Herb, no v. Sp. PI.' 



One fresh observation incorporated in the * Flora of British 

 India ' came from the work of his old friend Bertram Mitford, 

 later Lord Redesdale, 1 who, not content with growing many 

 kinds of Bamboo in his beautiful garden at Batsford, published 

 a botanical study of them in his ' Bamboo Garden.' Hooker, 

 to whom the MS. was shown, was no little interested, and 

 pronounced his description quite clear and good except in 

 one or two small matters of wording, against which, to ward 

 off cavillers, he pencilled suggestions, especially where the turn 

 of the phrase appeared to convey, in strict botanical language, 

 more than should be intended. 



His friend demurred, though with diffidence as against 

 such authority ; to which Hooker replied (Aug. 23, 1896) : 



Never hesitate to challenge me. I have not seldom 

 been convicted of error in the use of terms. I quite saw 

 what you meant, but hold that putting persistent where you 

 did, does in botanical language assert that the sheaths are 

 persistent on the culm and branches respectively. 



1 (1837-1916.) He was created Baron Redesdale in 1902, having inherited 

 the estates of his uncle, the Earl of Redesdale, in 1886. His literary classic, 

 the Tales of Old Japan, was the fruit of his diplomatic career in Japan. Then 

 he entered the Office of Works during the Ayrton affair, and lent Hooker much 

 aid and sympathy. Later the famous gardens of Batsford enabled him to 

 pursue his botanical tastes to the full. 



