THE HISTORY OF AITON S ' HORTUS KEWENSIS O 



in his Paradisus (t. 92, 1808), in which he claims the name, adding 

 in English : " I had the honour of naming the genus in the Hortus 

 Keioensis. . . Mr. Dryander permitted this child of pure friend- 

 ship and solid merit to pass for his until the real father 

 owned it." 



Strelitzia (Hort. Kew. i. 285, iii. 508) is generally recognized 

 as having been named by Banks. " Previous to the publication of 

 the Hortus Keiuensis," says Curtis (Bot. Mag. 119), "he made a 

 new genus of this plant . . . and named it Strelitzia in honour 

 of our most gracious Queen Charlotte, coloured engravings of 

 which, executed under his direction, he presented to his particular 

 friends." This was Sowerby's plate, subsequently reproduced in 

 Hort. Kew. Smith in Rees (s. v.) says it was " named by Sir 

 Joseph Banks and the late Mr. Alton." The full description of 

 the genus, however, printed in Hort. Kew. iii. 508, is taken 

 verbatim from the MSS. of Dryander." It does not thus appear 

 that Banks's name can be associated with the publication of the 

 genus, for the private distribution of an engraving does not con- 

 stitute publication ; and Strelitzia, in common with Smithia, 

 must be cited as of '* Ait." 



It should not however be overlooked, as it sometimes is, that 

 certain descriptions in ed. 2 as in ed. 1 are signed by their writers, 

 and that in such cases they are the authority for the names of the 

 species described. This is generally recognized with regard to 

 the species noted as of " Brown MSS." in ed. 2, but not as to 

 other contributors to ed. 1. The genus Amaryllis, for example, 

 was contributed by the younger Linnaeus, and his name is 

 attached to each description ; but the Index Keioensis, which is 

 careful to give credit to Solander for descriptions with the publi- 

 cation of which he is in no way associated, quotes A. eqiiestris, A. 

 ornata, and A. picrpicrea as of " Ait. Hort. Kew.," whereas the 

 citation should run "Linn. f. in (or ex) Ait. Hort. Kew." The 

 same statement applies to various other names in the Mono- 

 cotyledons — e. g. Hcemantlius toxicarius, Crinum eruhescens, Cyr- 

 tanthus obliquus — first published here, the younger Linnaeus having 

 appended his name to most of the descriptions in the genera in 

 which these occur. The treatment of each of these names in 

 Index Keioensis is different, though their position is identical : the 

 first stands as of " Linn. f. ex Ait.," the second as of " [Soland. in] 

 Ait." and the third as "Ait." In the same w^ay as these of Linn. f. 

 should be quoted certain names attributed to L'H6ritier and taken 

 by Dryander from his letters — e.g. Gomptonia, as to which see 

 Journ. Bot. 1909, 45 ; this should be cited as " L'Herit. ex Ait." 

 A careful examination of the Hortus would no doubt result in the 

 discovery of similar instances. 



It may be interesting to add transcripts of two letters that 



* It may be worth while to call attention to the beautiful and extensive 

 series of drawings of S. Angusta, S. Regime, S. parvifolia and S. ovata, made by 

 Francis Bauer at Kew and preserved in the Department of Botany, where arc 

 also Masson's drawings of the lirst-named, which he discovered at the Cape. 



