NOTES ON CERTAIN CONEFLOWERS 



The following paper, based upon material of certain Cone- 

 flowers preserved in several herbaria, is offered with a view of 

 relieving some of the confusion which has surrounded a num- 

 ber of these interesting plants. Through the kindness of 

 Professor William Trelease of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 

 Dr. B. L. Robinson of the Gray Herbarium of Harvard Uni- 

 versity, Mr. Stewardson Brown of the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, Dr. Charles Mohr of Asheville, and Dr. J. T. 

 Rothrock of the University of Pennsylvania, the writers have been 

 permitted to use the valuable specimens in their keeping and 

 these, supplemented by the material at the Biltmore Herbarium, 

 together with careful field notes, have made the study possible. 



Brauneria atrorubens (Nutt. ) 



Rudbeckia atrorubens Nutt., Jour. Acad. Phila. 7: 80, 1834. 

 Echinacea atrorubens Nutt., Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. N. S. 7 : 354, 1841. 



Sixty-seven years ago Nuttall described in the Journal of the 

 Academy of Philadelphia, a form of Brauneria to which he applied 

 the name of Rudbeckia atrorubens and afterwards transferred it to 

 the genus Echinacea. Although his type specimen is preserved in 

 the herbarium of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences and most 

 clearly represents a form of Brauneria, yet the name has been 

 misapplied by American botanists to designate a Rudbeckia of the 

 South Atlantic and Gulf region. NuttalPs description of his 

 species is brief, but good, and the vivid contrast between B. atro- 

 rubens and B. purpurea* which was quoted by Torrey and Gray 4 

 would easily establish its validity when contrasted with species of 

 its genus. Unfortunately a true Rudbeckia was admitted by Torrey 

 and Gray, 1. c, as a variety of Nuttall's Echinacea atrorubens, the 

 supposed variety afterwards being interpreted by Dr. Chapman 5 as 

 the plant originally described by Nuttall. This error was given 



3 Mem. Torr. Club 5 : 334, 1894. 

 * Fl. N. Am. 2 :3o6, 1842. 

 5 Flora S. U. S. 226, i860. 



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