220 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



Astragalus in the Linnean herbarium. Trinien repHed that " he 

 could find no specimen labelled by Linnaeus with the name 

 A. liypoglottis, but a specimen of A. imrpureus, designated 

 ' epiglottis,'' by Linnaeus, to which Sir J. E. Smith had added 

 ' liypoglottis L.' " Trimen's reply was perfectly correct, as far as 

 it goes, but there is a good deal more to be said. The specimen 

 alluded to is, of course, the one assumed by Mr. N. E. Brown to 

 be Linnaeus's t3^pe. Our task now is to show why he is right, 

 and Bunge and the others wrong, when neither of the specimens 

 on which they respectively rely was ever labelled " liypoglottis " 

 by Linnaeus at all ! It is, therefore, inevitable to compare 

 in detail Linnaeus's successive descriptions of this and the most 

 nearly allied species with the synonyms he cites, and with the 

 specimens in his herbarium and that of the Hortus Cliffortianus. 



Linnffius in his earlier writings, and in his herbarium, un- 

 doubtedly confused Astragalus epiglottis with A. pentaglottis , 

 with A. purpureus, and with A. Glaux, but not with A. daniciis, 

 Eay's two synonyms for which he assigned to A. arenarius. The 

 cause of the confusion seems to have been his not infrequent 

 juxtaposition, as synonyms, of names from earlier authors, which 

 really belonged to different species. 



Thus in Hort. Cliff, p. 362, we find as Astragalus No. 4 : 

 "A. siliquis cordatis acutis penduhs lateribus connibentibus " (sic), 

 a diagnosis which unquestionably belongs to A. epiglottis L. Mant. 

 p. 274 (non Sp. PL). The habitat is " Crescit in Hispania " and 

 the six following synonyms are cited : — 



(1) " Astragalus pumilus, siliqua epiglottidis forma. Tournef. 

 Inst. 416, Boerh. Lugdb. 2, p. 54." This is GQitoinlY A. epiglottis. 



(2) "Astragalus hispanicus, siliqua epiglottidi simili, fiore albo 

 minore tournefortii. Herm. Lugdb. 76, t. 77." This also, both 

 from the wording and from the figure, is certainly A. epiglottis. 



(3) "Glaux hispanica. Sloanei. Eaj. hist. 940.'' This is 

 certainly A.pentaghttis. Ea}- says: "In planta sicca ad nos a D. 

 Sloane transmissa . . . siliquae breves et velut triangulae . . . 

 exterius musco quodam subruffo denso innascente scabrae . . . 

 praeter museum villosum siliquae etiam lanugine pubescunt." 



(4) a " Astragalus supinus, siliquis villosis glomeratis. Tournef. 

 Inst. 416 " [417] . On reference to Tournefort, loc. cit., this will 

 be found to be identical with the next synonym. It therefore is 

 also A. pentaglottis, although the phrase would apply as well to 

 A. purpureus. 



(5) "Astragalus hispanicus, siliqua epiglottidi simili, tiore 

 purpureo, major tournefortii. Herm. Lugdb. 74, t. 75." From 

 Hermann's figure this is cQYtdArAY A. pentaglottis, to which it is 

 subsequently referred by Linnaeus himself in Mant. p. 274. 



(6) " Astragaloides incana, flore purpureo, lentis siliquis. Barr. 

 rar. t. 537, f. 1." This seems to be A. pentaglottis, to which it is 

 referred by Linnaeus in Mant. loc. cit. But the figure is inferior 

 to most of those of Barrelier. The text at p. 76, No. 850, quotes 

 Tournefort's "A. supinus siliquis villosis glomeratis," but the 

 remark "Planta pusilla, vix medio palmo altior " rather suggests 



