E. L, EKMAN, WEST INDIAN VERNONI^. 43 



Fischer (Petr). -w- Bequia: in declivibus montium inter 

 frutices, alt. 300 m, Julio 1890, H. H. et G. W. Smith n. B. 

 297 (KU). — Margarita: in monte San Juan, alt. 500 m, 

 19. 7. 03, J. R. Johnston n. 96 (H, KU). 



The histor}^ of this species goes back to the remarkable 

 voyage of Plumier and Surian in 1689 — 90. Having dis- 

 covered it, most probably, in Martinique, Plxjmier figured 

 it in Plum. ed. Burm., tab. 130, fig. 2, and upon this figure 

 LiNNiEus in Systema Naturae, 1759, p. 1213 based his Co- 

 nyza arborescens. 



There is a point to be discussed in this connection. 

 The passage in Systema Naturae, ed. X, where Linn^us 

 describes Conyza arborescens reads as follows: »C. (arbore- 

 scens) fol. ovatis integerrimis subtus tomentosis, spicis recur- 

 vatis secundis, bract, reflexis. Plum. ic. t. 130. f. 2.» The 

 description is not merely copied from Plumier; for Linn^us 

 has given here some characters of his species that must refer 

 to another plant than that figured by Plumier, for instance 

 the statements »fol. . . . subtus tomentosis, spicis recurva- 

 tis ». There is full evidence as to which plant these statements 

 refer to. In 1758 Linn^us had purchased a set of plants collected 

 in Jamaica by Patrick Browne, and among these plants 

 there was a specimen of a Vernonia, the same which I men- 

 tion in this paper, on p. 59, as V. divaricata Sw. This specimen 

 is now in the Linnsean Herbarium in London. When I was 

 there in 1910, I had not yet decided to study especially the 

 West Indian Vernoniae, and I only stated that under C. arbo- 

 rescens in the Linnaean Herbarium there were two plants: 

 the one V. divaricata Sw. from Jamaica, labelled in Linn^us's 

 handwriting »Conyza arborescens» from »Br.»; the other 

 V. scorpioides (Lam.) Pers. from Guyana. Prof. C. A. M. 

 Lindman subsequently (in 1912) visited the Linnaean Society, 

 and obliged me by making a brief description and an exact 

 drawing of the two specimens in question. I thus easily 

 ascertained that the remarks »fol. . . . subtus tomentosis, 

 spicis recurvatis» refer to the plant collected by Browne. 

 Another statement in the description of Conyza arborescens, 

 »bracteis reflexis», seems to refer to the plant figured by 

 Plumier, the specimen in the Linnsean Herbarium showing 

 only a few small bracts. As matters now stand, I think 

 we have better take the figure of Plumier connected with 



