BATIS MARITIMA. 



The small volume of Jacquin, entitled Selectarum Stirpium Americanarum 

 Historia, published in 1788, contains only the text of the larger work of 1763, with 

 references to the colored plates. The description of Batis is not altered. 



Laniark's figure of Batis* seems to be a copy of Jacquin's, already cited. 



Swartz, in his Observationes Botanicae (1781), gives a detailed character of the 

 plant, which is, in some respects, more accm-ate than that of Jacquin ; but he, too, 

 has overlooked the petals ; and the fertile flowers as well as the fruit are imper- 

 fectly described. 



Jussieu, in his Genera Plantarum,t has drawn the character of the genus from 

 Browne and Jacquin, and seems to have been unacquainted with the plant. He 

 left it among his genera incertce sedis. 



WilldenowJ and Persoon§ copy the short description of Linnseus, and add 

 nothing to our previous knowledge of the plant. 



In 1814, appeared the extensive Flora Jamaicensis, by John Lunan. His 

 description of Batis is very fu!l,|| but is wholly taken from Jacquin, with some 

 additions from Browne, and he makes no conjecture as to its affinities. 



Kunth notices the plant in his Nova Genera et Species, and places it among 

 ChenopodiacefE.H 



Sprengel, in 1826,** referred it, doubtfully, to Coniferse. In his Genera Planta- 

 rum (1830) it stands without a reference to the Natural order. 



Bartling, four years later, leaves it, without a remark, among his undetermined 



genera.ft 



Even so late as 1840, Endlicher seems to have had no better materials for the 

 character of Batis in his Genera PlantarumJJ than the description of Jacquin ; 

 which he has copied, with only slight alterations. In doing so, however, he has 

 made two verbal mistakes, viz. : " ovarium acutum " for " ovarium obtusum ;" and 

 perigonium decumbens^^ for '^ disrumpens." Like Bartling and Jussieu, he does not 

 assign the genus a place in the Natural system. 



The only important addition to our knowledge of this interesting plant, since the 

 time of Jacquin, is given by Lindley, in his remarks on the genus Sarcobatus 

 of Nees, in the fourth volume of Hooker's London Journal of Botany.§§ He 

 correctly describes the structure of the fruit, and rendered it probable (for his 

 specimens were not mature) that what had been regarded as seeds by former 

 botanists, were only the empty and easily separable carpels ; the plant rarely per- 

 fecting its seeds. 



Several years ago, the Batis was detected at Tampa Bay, in East Florida, by 

 that zealous botanist, Dr. M. C. Leavenworth, late of the United States Army, who 

 has contributed so much to our knowledge of Southern plants. It was shortly 

 afterwards found by Mr. J. Blodgett, on Key West Island. From this gentleman, 

 I lately received ripe and perfect specimens, preserved in alcohol. Dr. Chapman 

 has also sent me excellent dried specimens of both male and female plants from 



* Illustr. des Gen. t. 80G. f P. 443 (1789). J Sp. pi. 4, p. 735 (1807). 



§ Synops. 2, p. 613 (1807). || 2, p. 137. ^ 2, p. 193 (1816), and Synops. 1, p. 479. 



** Syst. Veg. 3, p. 901. ff Ordin. Nat. Plant, p. 426 (1830). 



IX No. 6844, p. 1327. §§ P. 1 (1845). 



