Rqfinesque on the Genus Floerkea, 373 



20. Houseleek {Sempervivum tectoruin) in flower. 



21. Herb clarry (Salvia sclarea) in blossom. 



22. Swallows collecting in thousands to depart. Toothed 



coral {Cymhidium odontorhizom) in flower. Saw bats 



for the first time this year. 

 24. Lopseed {Phryina leptostachia) and ladies' traces (Neottia 



pubescens) in flower. 

 27. Gay mallows {Lavatera thuringiaca) and Solanum nigra 



in full flower. 

 30. Burnet saxifrage (^Sanguisorba canadensis) and water horer 



hound (^Lycopus etiropceus) in full flower. 



STEPHEN W. WILLIAMS. 



Deerfield, {Mass.) Jan. 25, 1819. 



Art. VIII. Description and Natural Classification of the 

 Genus Floerkea, by C. S. Rafinesque. 



JL his genus was discovered in Pennsylvania, near Lancaster, 

 by the Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, who communicated the same to 

 Wildenow of Berlin. This celebrated botanist ascertained that 

 it was a new genus, to which he gave the name of a German 

 botanist, (Floerke) and published it in the third volume of the 

 transactions of the society des Curieux de la Nature of Berlin, 

 for 1801, under the rx?^me oi Floerkea proserpinacoides, "which. 

 long and uncouth specific name has been changed by every 

 subsequent author. Michaux has omitted it altogether, (with 

 many more American species) in his Flora Boreali Americana, 

 published in 1803. Persoon calls it Floerkea lacustris, in Syn. 

 plant. 1. p. 393. Muhlenberg Floerkea uliginosa, in Cat. pi. 

 Amer. Sept. p. 36. and Pursh, in Flora Amer. Sept. 1. p. 239, 

 unites it with the genus Nectris, and calls it Nectris pinnata, put- 

 ting it therefore in the Hexandria digynia of Linnaeus, while all 

 the preceding authors had classed it in the Piexandrja mono- 

 gynia. I will show presently which among them appear to be 



