FARWELL: SISYRINCHIUM BERMUDIANA LINNAEUS 83 
intended the Bermudian plant to be the type of the species. But 
Hemsley has already shown (Journal of Botany 22: 108-110. 1884) 
that Linnaeus in all probability had never seen the plant from Ber- 
muda. Аз a matter of fact he made the Bermuda plant his var. 8 
and considered it to be of such small categorical importance that 
he did not give to it even a varietal designation. That he intended 
the Virginia plant to represent typically his .S. Bermudiana is 
clearly proved by the fact that all references to it were enumerated 
under his specific name and description while those referring to the 
Bermuda plant were grouped under his unnamed variety 8 and by 
the fact which is still more to the point, that the explanatory note 
with its fuller description was drawn entirely from his '' Planta a,” 
i. e., the Virginia plant. А careful study of all the evidence seems 
to indicate that: 
I. Linnaeus probably never saw the plant from Bermuda. 
2. The specific name Bermudiana perpetuates an old generic 
name and was not used as a geographical name to indicate the 
origin of the species; this view per se would prevent the adoption 
of the Bermuda plant as the type of the species. 
3. The Linnaean descriptions (diagnosis and footnote) are 
based upon the plant from Virginia, which must therefore be taken 
to be the type of the species. 
4. The plant from Bermuda should be known under the first 
name applicable to it, S. iridioides Curtis. 
