(291 ) 
Illustrations: Mém. Acad. Roy. Berlin Joc. c¢t.; Kiitz. Phyc. 
Tab. 7: pl. 77, f. 1 (C. compressa); Bull. Torrey Club 21: J. 
192 (C. depauperata, a very abnormal condition). 
Exsiccatae: Allen, Char. Am. Exsicc. 2¢. 
Sometimes very luxuriant forms occur which seem referable to 
this species, though the vegetative organs have dimensions much in 
excess of the maximum figures given above. Those so seen were 
not in mature fruit, and exact determination was impossible. 
This was the first species of the gymnopus group to be described, 
making its appearance in 1805, simultaneously with, but placed be- 
fore C. zeylanica Willd. As C. compressa (the identity is very 
probable, but not quite certain), it was again described in 1815. C. 
haitensis appeared in 1826, C. ¢ndica in 1827, C. verticillata in 
1832, C. armata and C. polyphylla in 1835. No species of the 
group has ever been found in Europe, but as the other continents 
were explored botanically each yielded new forms, all closely allied, 
but still a little different. At first Braun believed that they could be 
kept specifically distinct, but by 1844 he changed his views and 
ranked them as subspecies, choosing as the specific name C. poly- 
phylla, which thus in his hands temporarily acquired a wider mean- 
ing, only to drop out of nomenclature altogether, except as a syn- 
onym. In 1847, casual reference is made by Braun to a C. gymno- 
pus, in 1849 this is located as Egyptian, but no description appeared 
before 1868, when the name was published with a “double sense, 
First the Egyptian plant is given this name and then reduced in a 
note to varietal rank, and Chara gymnopus extended to cover all 
triply corticated plants having the lowest leaf-internodes uncorti- 
cated. If any regard at allis given to priority of publication, C. 
fymnopus is antedated by 63 years, and numerous names. Yet H. 
and J. Groves seem to be the only writers who do not use it to-day, 
their choice being C. zeylanica. If, as here, the units are consid- 
ered to be species, much of the nomenclatural difficulty vanishes. 
Allen, at first following Braun, accepted all forms as varieties of 
C. gymnopus, later he emphatically asserted their specific rank, 
finally he seems to have reverted to his original position. 
43. CHARA HAITENSIS Turpin, Dict. Sci. Nat. Veg. Acot. Ad. 
ror. (Livr. 40: pl. 7). 1826 
C. polyphylla A. Br. Flora 18: 7o. 1835. 
C. Michauxit A. Br. Am. Jour. Sci. 46: 93. 1844. 
