E. L. EKMAN, WEST INDIAN VERNONI^. 83 



Ki^R 11. 8161 (H). — St. Croix: West (H, S); Pflug (H); Ben- 

 ZON (H, S); Ravn (H); in collibus pr. »Elizas Retreat», Maj. 

 1871, Eggers. sine num. (H). — sine loc. ace: Leblond 

 n. 337 (D, orig. spec. V. sericece L. C. Rich, veleius dupl.); ex 

 Mus. Paris. (B); Riedlé (D); ex herb. Zuccarlni (M); ex herb. 

 Schmiedel. (M); ex herb. Pavon (Bss). 



In the year 1792 L. C. Richard described, very briefly, 

 some phmts sent by Mr. Leblond from Guyana to the Societée 

 d'Histoire Naturelle of Paris. Among these plants there was 

 a Vernonia which Richard called Vernonia (err. Veronia) 

 sericea, and characterized as follows: »fol. lineari-lanceolatis, 

 subtus sericeo-incanis, ubique tomentosis, subintegris: floribus 

 alternis, secundis sessilibus albis ». This description, of course, 

 is too narrow to characterize a Vernonia, and it seems there- 

 fore as if nobody has been able to identify the species. By 

 chance (at least so it appears) the name V. sericea was applied 

 to a plant common at Rio de Janeiro, although this did not 

 agree with the description, and was never collected in Guyana. 



When, in the summer of 1912, I examined the Vernonise 

 of the Delessert Herbarium at Geneva, I found a specimen 

 of what, at that time, I called V. phyllostachya (Cass.) 

 Gleason, labelled Vernonia sericea Rich., Leblond n. 337. At 

 first, I could not understand the meaning of this determination, 

 but I soon was able to ascertain that the plant in question was 

 the type, or a duplicate of the type, of the mysterious Ver- 

 nonia sericea L. C. Rich. 



The brief description of V. sericea quoted above will be 

 found to agree perfectly with V. phyllostachya (Cass. ) Gleason, 

 except for the colour of the flowers. However, typically 

 purple-flowered Vernonise very often occur with white flowers. 

 Further, the type localit}" of V. sericea is indicated to be Guyana, 

 but V. phyllostachya has never been collected there. It often 

 happened, however, in that early age of Botany that 

 the habitats of plants described were interchanged. Since 

 Leblond also collected in the West Indies (compare Urban, 

 Notse biographicse, Symb. Antill., Vol. 3) it is therefore evident 

 that this plant came from there, and not from Guyana. 



Singularly enough I could not find at Paris any specimen 

 of V. sericea collected by Leblond. 



The species thus renamed is one of the most riclil}^ re- 

 presented in herbaria. It is easily recognized by its sericeous 



