—re- 



double naming as Phegopteris Phegopteris and similar 

 abominations. I should therefore most cheerfully adopt 

 Ascherson's combination if it could be shown beyond 

 question that it is the oldest name for our plant. Let us 

 therefore review briefly its historical standing: 



It is true that Ascherson's B. ramosum is generally 

 considered identical with B. matricar ice folium, and it has 

 been so regarded by Milde, Luersen, and others but 

 neither Milde nor Luersen cite Osmunda ramosa Roth 

 as a synonym, although the latter cites O. ramosa of La- 

 marck and Borckhausen, but questions their identity with 

 our plant. Ascherson himself established his B. ramo- 

 sum on Roth's Osmunda ramosa, and published his com- 

 bination in the Flora of Brandenburg in 1864. 



Now it so happens that, according to Milde, Roth's 

 Osmunda ramosa, which was published in " Flora Ger- 

 manica " in 1788, was founded on a form of Osmunda 

 Lunaria, and that in a later edition of the same work, 

 published in 1800, Roth himself referred his plant to 

 Osmunda Lunaria (L.) as var. ramosa, citing for it three 

 synonyms which Milde declared were referrable " to a 

 plant which at best is a monstrosity of B. Lunaria, if, in- 

 deed, it is not to be regarded as a product of Art ! " 



The name ramosa itself appeared in 1737 as a citation 

 from Tournefort's Institutes in " Hortus ClifTordianus," 

 where Linnaeus described two varieties, ''Lunaria race- 

 mosa ramosa major," and " Lunaria racemosa minor 

 adianthif olio " Breyn. The first of these, according to 

 Milde, belonged to a monstrosity of B. Lunaria, and the 

 second is var. incisum of the same species. This last I 

 have personally verified, and it is accurately borne out by 

 the fine figure in Breyn's " Plantar Centurise." 



This may be made still more clear by the following ex- 

 tract from Milde's monograph on B. Lunaria: " In the 

 ' Hortus ClifTordianus,' 1737, Linnaeus distinguished two 

 Botrychiums, B. Lunaria and B. ternatum. The former 

 appears on p. 472 as ' Osmunda with pinnatifid, cauline 

 frond, pinnae lunulate. H. Lapp. 389,' with two vars. 



