188 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
to give place to that of J. Anil L. (i.e. I. suffruticusu Miller). It 
will be seen, however, from the following reference in Sloane (Cat. 
Plant. p. 142 (1696)), to the plant subsequently figured in Nat. 
Hist. Jam. t. 176, fig. 8 (which we consider to be J. truzillensis 
B.K.), that even in Sloane’s time a good deal of obscurity 
existed as to the original source of American indigo :— 
‘“‘Coluter affinis fruticosa argentea, floribus spicatis e viridi 
purpureis, siliquis faleatis. An herba e qua glastum vulgo anil 
exprimitur, in regno novo Granatensi sponte crescens. Laet. p. 880? 
An Colinil Hort. Mal. part 1, p. 108? seu polygala indica minor 
siliquis recurvis Syen. ib. p. 104? An Colutea Currassavica ar- 
gentea angustifolia Par. Bat. pr. p. 825? Wild Indigo. In locis 
apertioribus & sterilioribus Jamaice & Caribearum Insularum ubi- 
que sponte nata reperitur.”’ 
It will be noticed that, while this is termed ‘ Wild Indigo,” it is 
not the ‘‘ Wild Indigo called Guatimala”’ of Petiver. 
LYPHYLLA. Foliis 5-7-jugis leguminibus arcuatis. I. Cor- 
nezuelo, Fl. Mex. ic. ined. (v. s. specimen ex Cayenna, Martinica, 
Sancto-Domingo). An species propria ? 
I. Anil of Linneus and 1. suffruticosa of Miller, which are the 
same thing, are 6 polyphyila DC. ; but De Candolle’s variety includes 
besides these the I. tinctoria of Miller, not of Linneus, which is the 
cultivated form of the same species. It is, as a rule, inadvisable to 
supplant a name that has become so familiar in usage as the name 
I. Anil by one that happens to be a little older, but that has been 
seme a lost sight of. In this case, however, it seems better to 
e 
d 
of both countries might apply the same name to I. Anil, they do not 
do so in either, because I. Anil will not grow in Egypt and is not 
stand, he has applied the n 0 the species to which it is never 
applied in those countries where the term ‘Nil ” originated. Dou 
less he used the word because the name Anil is given in tl ish- 
. . ° . . 7 
speaking parts of America to this species, but this application of the 
name by the common people of the New World is only a reflection 
of the erroneous notion which they seem to share with the learned 
able varieties, 
The oldest reference that we can find to the cultivated form is 
