26 AN ACCOUNT OF VELEZIA. 
r Generum herlerum prope a emscsuli juxta adbendineta 
minima rigida Cherleri,”’ which suggested to Linneus the ‘‘ nomen 
triviale.” 
The next reference to Velezia rigida is by Paolo Boccone, 
who figures an Italian specimen in Museo di Piante Rare, p. 50, 
t. 48 (1697), under the name of ‘ Lychnis corniculata, minor, sive 
ee saxatilis,” giving as its habitat ‘campagne sterili di 
oma, al Monastero di Tre Fontane.’’ It is figured and de- 
seribed pan the same name by Barrelier, Pl. Gall. Hisp. Ital. obs. 
p. 665, t. 1018 (1714). Buxbaum describes and figures specimens 
of this same species pees the Caucasus in his Plantarum minus 
Cognitarum, omit ii. p. 41, t. 47 (1728), under the name of ‘« Knaw 
minus, foliis ¢ ryophylleis,” collected ‘‘in montosis aridis Iberiz.” 
The last of the old Se to mention the plant is F. B. de 
Sauvages in his Meth. Pl. Monspel. p. 145 (1751); and he refers 
to Silene these specimens which were collected near Montpellier : 
* Silene ae subulatis cauli appressis, calycibus rigidis intermedio 
soon te 
i te se notes on the heer d history, it is clear that only one 
fiocies "of Velezia was known to botanists and the old herbalists 
un e beginning of thre! seantik ce area though there is evi- 
dence from the comparison of descriptions and arates cited that 
the less common variety of V. rigida, described further on in this 
paper, in which the calyx is much longer than in the type and 
nearly sessile, was certainly known to some collectors. Buxbaum’s 
figure of specimens from the Caucasus represents this less common 
~— and it also agrees with Laupmann’s specimens from Sudak 
e Crimea, ¢ ollected more recently. 
The genus Velezia was founded by Linneus in honour of Fran- 
cesco Velez, a Spanish traveller. Linneus says that in the dried 
specimens of V. rigida he counted five stamens, but that Loefling, 
who mtingeated the generic name, observed six in the living plant, 
and that therefore, in deference to him, he placed the genus among 
the Hexandria Digynia. is ig an instance of unusual modesty 
on the part of Linneus. Subse sequently, however, in Mant. Plant- 
arum (p. 869), he transferred the genus to Pentandria—‘‘ ad 
Pentandriam ne pas amandata.” The genus was defined in the 
following terms : 
“ Calyx. Pevianthinm monophylium, filiforme, ermaageece Lei 
sistens ; ore quinquedentato, acuminato, erecto, minimo.—Coro 
Petala 5; brevissima, emarginato-bidentata ; eariviis fliformibne, 
longit. calycis. — Stamina. Filamenta 6, capillaria, vix calycis 
longit.; anthere cordate.— Pistillum. Germen cylindricum, breve, 
receptaculo stylorum terminatum. Styli 2, filiformes, 
staminum ; ee ata simplicia.—Pericarpium. Capsula cylindrica, 
tecta, uniloc —Semina plurima, vie serie imposita.” 
range is co-extensive with that of V. rigida, the only eprint de- 
faked t in the Pees Plantarum, This plant occurs in "he coun 
