29 



Medicago arahica (L.) 



Medicago pohjmorpha e. arahica L. Spec. PI. 280. (1753) 

 Medicago maculaia Willd. Sp. PI. 1412. (1800) 



As the plant is not a native of Arabia, Willdeuow thought 

 the name inappropriate. Hence the change. 

 Psoralea digitata Nutt. Torr. & Gray Fl. N. A. I, 300. (1838) 

 Psoralea campestris Nutt. 1. c. 



The latter is only a form of the former, and scarcely de- 

 served a varietal name. 

 Amorpha nana Nutt. Fraser's Cat. (1813) 

 Amorpha microphylla Pursh PL 466. (1814) 



There has been an idea generally prevailing that the A. 

 nana of Fraser's Catalogue and that of Nuttall's Genera 

 are not the same. The causes of this idea seem to have 

 been that Dr. Gray found in Lambert's Herbarium under 

 this name a variety of A. fruticosa (var. angiistifolia 

 Pursh), and that the same variety has been cultivated in 

 England and figured in the botanical magazines under 

 this name. Mr. Fraser was a nurseryman, not a botanist, 

 and Fraser's Catalogue is known to have been prepared 

 by Nuttall. It may be that Fraser had both A. nana 

 and A. fruticosa angustifolia in the nursery and a mis. 

 take of labels was made or a mistake might even have 

 been made when the j^ants were shipped from America to 

 England. It is evident enough that the A. nana of Fra- 

 ser's Catalogue and that of Nuttall's Genera are the same ; 

 first, because the descriptions agree perfectly ; second, be- 

 cause A. nana in Fraser's catalogue is said to be "col- 

 lected near the Mandan towns 1,600 miles up the Mis- 

 souri," which is, as far as I know, far outside of the range 

 of A. fruticosa angustifolia, but about the center of that of 

 A. microphylla Pursh; third, because Nuttall in his Gen- 

 era expressly says "A. nana T. N. (Thomas Nuttall) in 

 Fraser's Catal. 1813," and also says that it is the same £^s 



