CALYCANTHACEAE. 



Determined by Alfred Rehder and E. H. Wilson. 



MERATIA Lois.i 



Meratia praecox Rehder & Wilson, n. comb. 



Calycanthus praecox Linnaeus, Sp. ed. 2, 718 (1762). — Curtis in Bot. Mag. 



XIII. t. 466 (1799). 

 Meratia fragrans Loiseleur, Herb. Amat. III. 173 t. (1818). 

 Chimonanihus fragrans Lindley in Bot. Reg. VI. t. 451 (1820). — Franchet & 



Savatier, Enum. PI. Jap. I. 15 (1875). — Hemsley in Jour. Linn. Sac. 



XXIII. 22 (1886). — Dials in Bot. Jahrb. XXIX. 345 (1900). — Finet & 



Gagnepain in Bull. Soc. Bot. France, LII. M6m. IV. 22 (1907); Contrib. Fl. 



As. Or. II. 22 (1907). — Dunn & Tutcher in Kew Bull. Misc. Inform. Add. 



ser. X. 27 {Fl. Kwantung & Hongkong) (1912). 

 Chimonanthus praecox Link, Enum. PI. Hort. Berol. II. 66 (1822). — Schneider, 



III. Handb. Laubholzk. I. 346, fig. 221 a-d (1905). — Makino in Tofcyo Bot. 



Mag. XXIV. 300 (1910). 

 Butneria praecox Schneider in Dendr. Winterstud. 241 (1903). 



Western Hupeh: Ichang, cliffs in glens and gorges, alt. 30-300 m., 

 common, June 1907 (fruits), January 1908 (flowers) (No. 36; bush 



» Meratia Loiseleur, Herb. Amat. III. 173, t. (1818). — Nees von Esenbeck in 

 Act. Nov. Leop.-Carol. Acad. XI. 107, t. 10 (1823). 



Chimonanthus Lindley in Bot. Reg. V. sub t. 404 (1819). — De Candolle 



Prodr. III. 2 (1828). — G. Don, Gen. Syst. II. 652 (1832). — Spach, Hist. 



Veg. IV. 284 (1835). — Endlicher, Gen. 1239 (1840). — Bentham & Hooker, 



Gen. I. 16 (1862). 



Calycanthus, sect. Chimonanthus Prantl in Engler and Prantl, Nat. PJlanzen- 



fam. III. Abt. II. 94 (1888). 



Though the generic name Meratia was published with a full generic and specific 



description accompanied by a plate more than a year before Chimonanthus of 



Lindley, it has been generally overlooked and is not even quoted as a sjiionym 



in many taxonomic works. At first sight the priority of Meratia is not apparent, 



as the volume in which it is published is dated 1819 on the title-page, as is the case 



in the volume which contains the description of Chimonanthus. Loiseleur's Herbier 



general de Vamaleur, however, was issued in 96 parts (livraisons), each containing 



6 plates with descriptions, and part XXIX. which included the description of 



Meratia under No. 173, was issued in or before July 1818 according to the Biblio- 



graphie de la France, ann6e 1818, p. 437 (in the monthly number of July 25, 1818), 



while Chimonanthus was not published before October 1819, which is the date 



given on the plate 404 itsc^lf. With this evidence we are obliged to take up Meratia 



as the oldest name for the genus based on Calycanthus praecox Linnaeus. 



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