ARNOLD ARBORETUM HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 



^a.dd. ,...sep.t.sabe.r..-28., /^/ 4. 



rear Tr. Kennedy, 



Eoine time ago M?*. ^axon told me that you had asXed hira for an ex- 

 planation of the iiaiie Kydrastic. At that time I could not ^,ive hin any 

 clue and particularly the weaning of the words "Ellisii a nobiliSB. 

 virgine anieric." was vo-:r j^nr^r-linp; to me. A few days ar;o i looked up 

 the matter furfefier and foiuid that Ellis had proposed to Linnaeus to 

 nejne the plant Coldenella after Misc Jane Golden, hut Linnaeus apparent- 

 ly changed the name to- -lydrast is for some reason or other without omit- 

 ting? the reference xo titts^ ICllis • intention. 



ir s letter dated April ;35, 1750 (see Smith, Jeines Edirard. A selec- 

 tion of the correspondence of Linnaeus... I. 95. 1821 ) Ellis says: ^ 

 "This young lady f^Jane Colden, see p. 94 & 9.3] merits your esteem ... 

 her father has !^:>lant oair.od a.^:ar hi^ Olienia, suppose you should 

 call this Coldenella or any other nane th?-t air^ht distinp^ish her -esi- 

 air.ong your t^snera". Wc reference tc the plant or the name ap'oears -4^ 

 afterwards in the corres:^ondence "between Linnaeus and Ellis. 



The name ^ap-.^ ears fi-«st in Linnaeus Syst. Nat. ed. X. 1088 (1759) 

 Fith"Elli8" after the diaf?noeis and nothing else. The phrase "a nohilisi; 

 virgine aiaeric. " does not appear until 1764 in Gen. Plant, ed. VI. 283. 



in Gray's Llanual the laGiininp, of tlie name is ^iven as douhtful; 

 Brit ton says: from the Greelc, '.vater-act ing. i ain inclined to believe 



