or) ” Se % 
& 
232 Botanical Writings of Rafinesque. 
title of Flore Louisiane. 'This account, as Robin informs us, 
was prepared from notes made on the living plants, and it is evi- 
dent (although there is no direct statement on the subject,) that 
he brought no collection of specimens to Europe, excepting a few 
seeds for the Jardin des Plantes. It is written in French; and 
the characters of the orders and genera are translated from Jus- 
sieu, which gives the work an appearance of scientific precision 
much beyond its just pretensions. Its value of course depends 
altogether upon Robin’s botanical knowledge and his success in 
referring the plants he notices to their proper orders and genera; 
and we remark that the work itself affords no evidence of his 
competency to the task. Indeed, on Rafinesque’s own showing, 
we can place little confidence in Robin’s determinations ; for, ac- 
cording to the former, he mistook the leaf of a Sarracenia for the 
spathe of an Arum, and described a species of Podophyllum as @ 
second species of Arum; he took two species of something neat 
Commelina for Orchideous plants ; described a Celtis as an un- 
known Proteaceous plant, a plant of the Cherry tribe for a true 
Laurel, anew genus(?) of Ranunculaceae for a Polygonaceous 
plant, and the common Ceanothus for Polygonum frutescens ; he 
mistook Amsonia and Dichondra for species of Menyanthes, 
new genus (?) of Scrophularinee for a Polygala, a Phlox for & 
Manulea, a Justicia for an Amethystea, an Hydrolea for an Apo- 
cynum, anew genus (?) intermediate between Oxrycoccus and Vac- 
cinium for a Campanula, and a species of Eryngium for a this- 
tle. On the sole authority of the descriptions and determinations 
of such a botanist, Rafinesque has established thirty new gene! 
and one hundred and ninety-six new species ; and professes ' 
reduce all his plants to their proper orders and genera, correcting 
Robin’s mistakes by his own descriptions. It is worth noticing 
that a large portion of the one hundred and four plants whicl 
are referred to old species, are merely enumerated, and scarcely if 
at all described by Robin ; but in almost every instance in which 
Robin has given a somewhat detailed description, Rafinesqu® 
has not.been able to recognize the plant, but has considered 1t @ 
new genus orspecies. From this fact, one may forma good idea 
of the value of Robin’s account, and of Rafinesque’s new gener 
and species. We do not pretend to say that Robin really made 
the blunders which Rafinesque charges upon him, (of which the 
specimens we have given are only some of the most striking ;) 
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