ROBINSON. — STUDIES IN THE EUPATORIEAE. 37 
some efforts to identify the species among the Brazilian Senecioneae. 
This search proved wholly unsuccessful, and accordingly a wish to 
examine the type of this problematic plant added no small incentive 
to a recent visit to Copenhagen, where many of Vahl’s plants are 
preserved. The specimen of the plant in question was easily found 
and corresponded in all respects to Vahl’s description and plate. It 
proved as anticipated a Senecio, but what was even more interesting, a 
faint but still quite legible label on the back of the sheet disclosed the 
fact that the specimen had not come from Brazil, but had been col- 
lected by Commerson on the Isle of Bourbon in the Indian Ocean. 
With this important clue, it has been easy to identify it positively 
with Senecio penicillatus (Cass.) Sch. Bip. The synonymy of the 
species is as follows : — 
Eupatorium tomentosum Lam. Dict, ii. 410 (1786). 
- auriculatum Vahl, Symb. iii. 95, t. 72 (1794). 
Mikania tomentosa Willd. Spec. Pl. iii. 1744 (1804). 
- Cacalia penicillata Cass. Dict. xlviii. 460 (1827). 
Senecio penicillatus Sch. Bip. Flora, xxviii. 499 (1845). 
Senecio tomentosus Cordemoy, FI. de I’Lle de la Réunion, 543 (1895), 
not Michx. 
Although the specific names tomentosus and auriculatus are both 
earlier than penicillatus they have already been employed for other 
valid species of Senecio and are accordingly not available for this 
plant, which should continue to pass as S, PENICILLATUS (Cass.) 
Sch. Bip. 
Vahl seems to have been quite aware of the identity between his 
Eupatorium auriculatum and the earlier E. tomentosum of Lam., as he 
has indicated this upon his label. Although Lamarck’s species was 
also founded on material collected by Commerson on the Isle of 
Bourbon, he appends to his description the note “on la trouve aussi 
dans le Brésil,” having probably confused with the plant of the Indian 
Ocean some habitally similar species of South America. It was doubt- 
less this circumstance which led Vahl to ascribe his EZ. auriculatum to 
Brazil, notwithstanding the fact that his type-sheet bears a note ap- 
parently in his own hand to the effect that the plant came from the 
Isle of Bourbon. 
Eupatorium confertifolium Klatt, Abb. Naturf. Ges. Halle, xv. 324 
(1881). This species does not differ essentially from E. vaccryt- 
FOLIUM Benth. Pl. Hartw. 200 (1845). 
Eupatorium coperense Hieron. in Engl. Bot. Jahrb. xxi. 330 (1895). 
This species, examined and photographed at the Royal Botanical 
Museum at Berlin, appears identical with the earlier E. anGusTIFOLIUM 
