68 AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 
NOTES ON) PRIORITY: OF “PLANT NAMES. 
J. A. NIEUWLAND. 
The following names of families taken mostly from the Flora 
of Anjou, 1827, by Desvaux must be given priority over such as 
are now accepted or in cases where the names are not different, 
they should be accredited to that author rather than to the ones 
who have hitherto been considered as their authors. I shall lay 
stress only on those ending in aceae, such being commonly held 
to. Desvaux has, however, others which by right of priority 
should be used, though prejudice has kept many botanists nowadays 
from using names not ending in aceae. 
Monotropaceae Desv., 1827, p. 172, instead of Lindley, 1836. 
Rhamnaceae Desv., 1827, p. 355, instead of Dumortier, 1851. 
Polygalaceae Desv., 1827, p. 333, Instead of Reichenbach, 1828. 
Salicariaceae Desv., 1827, p. 320, instead of Lythraceae, 
Lindley, 1836. 
Saxifragaceae Desv., 1827, p. 312, instead of Dumortier, 1829. 
Berberidaceae Desv., 1827, p. 293, instead of Torrey and 
Gray, 1858. 
A pocynaceae Desv., 1827, p. 188, instead of Lindley, 1836. 
Jasminaceae Desv., 1827, p. 187 (188 in Index), instead of 
Oleaceae Lindley, 1836. 
Gentianaceae Desv., 1827, p. 184, instead of Dumortier, 1829. 
Polygonaceae Desv., 1827, p. 127, instead of Lindley, 1836. 
Daphnaceae Desv., 1827, p. 176, instead of Reichenbach, 1828. 
Oenotheraceae Desv., 1827, p. 318, antedates Onagraceae 
Dumortier, 1829. Both must yield to Epzlobiaceae Vent, 
1799. 
Among the principal names not ending in aceae antedating 
those now held are the following of Desvaux, Violineae, Cistineae, 
Dioscorineae, Portulacineae, Opuntiateae, (Opuntiaceae in Index). 
Heister in 1755* first published the name Malvaceae for the 
Mallow family, and that too fifteen years before Necker’s pub- 
lication and two years antedating Zinn. The name Liliaceae 
Heister, 1755, antedates the publication of Zinn.+ 
* Heister, L., Beschreibung eines Neuen Geschlechts Africkanischen 
Pflanze (Brunsvigia). Braunschweig, 1755., p. 16. 
+ See Am. Mid. Naturalist. Vol. I, p. 112. 
