528 ROBINSON. 
138 (1788). Lyonia ferruginea Nutt. Gen. i. 266 (1818), as to plant, 
not as to name-bringing synonym. Xolisma fruticosa Nash, Bull. 
Torr. Bot. Club, xxii. 153 (1895). 
Tue Stratus oF CoNVOLVULUS AFRICANUS. The binomial Convol- 
vulus africanus seems first to have been used by Choisy in DeCandolle’s 
Prodromus, ix. 342 and 418 (1845), where it is attributed to “Nick.” 
or “Nich.,” said to have been published in “h. St. Dom.’’, and is 
referred to the synonymy of Pharbitis cathartica (Poir.) Choisy. In 
the Index Kewensis, i. 600 (1895), Convolvulus africanus Nickols, 
Hort. St. Doming. 260, is referred to Ipomoea cathartica. This dis- 
position of the species is also made by House in his North American 
Species of the Genus Ipomoea, 205 (1908). Both on nomenclatorial 
and geographic grounds the name Convolvulus africanus (1776) seemed 
so strange a synonym for the much later and strictly American [po- 
moea cathartica (1816), that the writer made some search for the rare 
work in which the name in question was originally published. This 
proves to be an “Essai sur Vhistoire naturelle de V’isle de Saint- 
Domingue,” published at Paris in 1776. The name of the author 
does not appear on the title page, but toward the end of the volume, 
on page 374, there is printed a note of “ Approbation’’ by Adanson, 
regarding the work itself, and in this note the name of the author, 
P[ére] Nicolson, is mentioned. It may be noted that neither the title 
of the work nor the spelling of the author’s name is as given in the 
Index Kewensis. 
On the page cited in the Index Kewensis (260) the only Convolvulus 
is not C. africanus but C. americanus, a species treated as follows: 
“LIANE purgative-— Syn. Liane & médicine. Liane & Bauduit, Arepeea, 
Car. Convolvulus Americanus.— Obs. Ses tiges sont grimpantes, cylindriques, 
sans vrilles; elles s’entrelacent dans les branches des arbres voisins, s'y accro- 
chent, & se replient ensuite vers la terre, y prennent racine, & forment de 
nouvelles plantes. On en tire un suc résineux qui se coagule, & dont on se 
pour purger. Un habitant du cul-de-sac nommé Bauduit, en fait un 
syrop purgatif qui porte son nom. Quoiqu’il soit fort en usage parm les habi- 
[here begins page 261] tans du pays, il ne laisse pas d’étre dangereux, en ce 
qu’il occasionne quelquefois des superpurgations. Ses feuilles sont taillées 
en coeur, un peu rudes, unies, sans dentelure.— Loc. Elle se trouve sur les 
mornes dans les lieux humides,— Virt. Elle purge violement. ; 
LIANE purgative du bord de la mer.— Syn Convolvulus marinus, Catharti- 
cus, Pl. Soldanella, Marcg.— Obs. Sa feuille est arrondie, bien omesee 
Loc. On ne la trouve que sur les cétes de la mer.— Virt. Elle est purgative. 
