Is Tilia americana L. valid? 

 Leon Croizat 



Is T. americana L. \alid? The answer of Sargent is negative 

 (Bot. Gaz. 66: 424-425, 1918), and is presented with the sup- 

 port of exidence that seems to be uncontrovertible. T. glabra 

 \'ent., favored by Sargent, is used now in the majority of works 

 treating the flora of the Eastern States. Certain authors have 

 used in turn Linnaeus' and \'entenat's binomials. Many rule out 

 T. americana believing it to be species multipla. 



The American Linden of Linnaeus is presented (Sp. PI. 1 : 

 514. 1753) in a publication which, translated, reads as follows: 



T. americana- — -Linden with staminodes. Kalm 



Linden with somewhat broad mucronate leaves. Gron. 



virg. 58 

 Linden with very broad glabrous leaves resembling our 



native kind. Pluk. mant. 181 

 Hab. in Virginia and Canada. A tree. 



Sargent tells us (o.c, 424), "Kalm's specimen is not in the 

 Linnean herbarium, and it is impossible to identify it from the 

 description which applies as well to any one of the 3 species 

 which Kalm may have seen. Indeed both T. neglecta and T. 

 heterophyUa Michauxii are more common in the part of the 

 country which he visited than the tree which recent authors 

 have called T. americana, and it is impossible to identify Kalm's 

 plant." 



So far as the writer knows Kalm mentions the American 

 Linden once (Trav. N. Am. 1: 69. 1770) without describing it. 

 The locns classicus, ex Kalm, is Philadelphia. This type-locality 

 does not conflict with the habitat of the species, ex Linnaeus, 

 and does not exclude the Linden known to Sargent as T. glabra. 



Kalm's note applies to numerous species of Tilia in America, 

 Europe and Asia, and it is undeniable that the presence or 

 absence of the staminodes is not primarily a specific character. 

 Gronovius polynomial is tantamount to nomen nudum, for it 

 describes no Linden in particular. Plukenet's polynomial, how- 

 ever, is definite : it introduces a Linden with xery broad glabrous 

 leaves "from Maryland," which resembles one of the English 

 species of Tilia. It is unfortunate that Sargent pays attention 



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