Ernst Lehmann: Zur Kenntnis der Veronicac der Gruppe dgresfts. 73 



Zu anderem Ergebnisse kommt 1917 (Journ. of Hot. 8. 271 ff.) 

 Lacaita. Er behandelt die Frage der Nomenklatur dieser Art in 

 einer besonderen Abhandlung, er verwirft den Namen 7. Tournefortii 

 und tritt zunächst für die allgemeine Verwendung von V. Buxbaumü 

 Tenore ein. Es heißt bei ihm: „in wliat follows I shall attempl to 

 prove that V. Tournefortii Gmel. is a hopeless muddle of contra- 

 dictory characters drawn partly from earlier descriptions of V. fili- 

 formis and partly from V. Buxbaumü. The name is therefore inadmis- 

 sible for either species and must be rejected altogether in conformitv 

 with Art. 51 clause 4 of the international rules: Everyone should 

 refuse to admit a name when the group which it designates embraces 

 elements altogether incoherent, or when it becomes a permanent source 

 of confusion or error. This rule is just as cogent as that enjoining 

 the use of the earliest published name, and it is fatal to E. Lehman n's 

 defence of V. Tournefortii " 



Weiter heißt es: „Gmelin's account of V. Tournefortii is too 

 ambiguous and contradictory for it to be possible for anyone who 

 has not preconceived ideas to say what he really intended to describe. 

 The very name V. Tournefortii is in reality only suitable for F. fili- 

 formis based on V. orientalis etc. of Tourn. Cor. p. 7, and not for 

 V. Buxbaumü, the phrase for which is not to be found in Tour nef ort. 

 The only Synonyms quoted are V. filiformis 8m. and V. orientalis etc. 

 Tourn. and Buxb. t. XL. f. 1 ... Then we are told that the root 

 is perennial, which is obviously impossible for V. Buxbaumü though 

 less unintelligible for V. filiformis, of which Boissier says „annua 

 vel perennans". The capsules are called „semiorbiculata obcordata ,; . 

 which is precisely applicable to those of filiformis but not to those 

 of Buxhaumü. On the other hand the leaves are said to be „cordato- 

 ovata grosse dentato-serrata" which agress with Buxbaumü but not 

 Avith filiformis. In short, there is such a muddle in Gmelin's account 

 that this name must be unhesitatingly rejected for either specie>. 

 The habitat he quotes is „Carlsruhe in the fields at the Holzhof. 

 emigrated a few years ago from the botanical garden and now almost 

 spontaneous". An escape from a botanical garden may be any species, 

 but it is in favour of V. Buxbaumü that that form has established itself 

 in later years over great part of Europe, whereas filiformis has not 

 done so." 



Gehen wir zunächst auf die von Lacaita beanstandete Diagnose 

 ein. Es ist kein Zweifel, daß die Diagnose Gmel ins nicht ganz 

 einwandfrei und vor allem eindeutig ist, Es ist ebenso zweifellos, 

 daß die Beschreibung der Frucht anderwärts, beispielweis bei Boissier, 

 Flora orientalis, 1879 Bd. 4, S, 166, erheblich besser ist als bei 



