TROPICAL AMERICAN EUPATORIEAE 23 
obsolete undulatis crassis firmiter coriaceis utrinque glaberrimis 
perlucidis basi rotundatis vel subtruncatis a basi 5-nervatis subtus 
pallidioribus laxe prominulenterque reticulatis 10-12.5 ecm. longis 
7-10.3 em. latis margine revolutis; petiolis teretibus robustis 2.8-4 
cm. longis flexuosis inter se annulo tumido connexis; paniculis (ali- 
quando axillaribus) foliaceo-bracteatis 3 dm. vel ultra longis 1.3 dm. 
vel ultra crassis alternirameis, particularibus 1 dm. longis peduncu- 
latis pyramidatis oppositirameis, ramis supra mediam partem dense 
capituliferis; capitulis 7.5-8.5 mm. longis arcte sessilibus; involucri 
squamis purpurascentibus anguste oblongis obtusis enerviis basi 
tumidis et pallidioribus; corollis ca. 5 mm. longis tubulatis sursum 
paullo gradatimque ampliatis, limbo post exsiccationem atrobrunneo 
paullo granulato; achaeniis descriptu  nimius immaturis; pappo 
fulvescente.—VENEZUELA: Colonia Tovar in the State of Aragua, 
alt. 1983 m., August Fendler, no. 2349 (Gr.). The specific name has 
been suggested by the thick and very glossy leaves. 
Tur Proper Status oF SPHAEREUPATORIUM.—In his Bolivian 
journey of 1892 Dr. Otto Kuntze collected among several eupatorioid - 
novelties a plant with compound heads on which Hoffmann in Engl. 
& Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenf. Nachtr. 322 (1897), founded his Eupatorium 
§ Sphaereupatorium, defined solely by the words “Kf. etwa 15 zu 
kugeligen Kf. 2. Ordnung vereinigt—l Art, E. Hoffmannii O. 
Kuntze in Bolivien.” The following year, Kuntze, Rev. Gen. iii. 
147, accepting Hoffmann’s judgment as to the generic position of this 
plant gave it a fairly detailed specific description under the name 
E[upatorium] (Sphaereupatorium) Hoffmannii, but seeing opportunity 
for further naming appended at the end of his diagnosis the following 
words “Manche werden die merkwiirdige Eigenschaft der neuen § 
Sphaereupatorium O. Hoffm., dass nach dessen Diagnose: “Die 
Bliithenkdpfe zu einem Kopfe zweiter Ordnung vereinigt sind, analog 
ahnlich basirten Compositengenera fur geniigend zur Aufstellung 
einer neuen Gattung halten und haben dann die Art Sphaereupator- 
ium Hoffmannii zu nennen.” Kuntze’s childish and often amusing 
greed for new names is sufficiently well known. It is evident that 
he here wished—without the trouble of reaching a final decision as 
to the generic validity of the group—to secure to himself in any event 
the naming of it. 
Were one so disposed, it would be easy to challenge the legality 
of the names Sphaereupatorium (O. Hoffm.) Ktze. and S. Hoffmannu 
Ktze. for they were both published as it were in synonymy or by 
incidental mention. Indeed, the genus Sphaereupatorium as such 
