m 
of' Plants^ called PolemoniOjceGe, 
namely, Polemonium^ Plilooc^ Cantua^ Hoitzia^ Caldasia^ and 
Ipomopsis^ for which I have preferred the prior name of Gilia 
of the Flora Peruvmna. The name Cantua being of barba^ 
rous origin, and not generally applied by the natives to these 
plants, led the authors of the Flora Peruviana to change it to 
Periphragmos, a name of Greek derivation. There seems, 
however, no good reason for such a change, and I have therefore 
followed the great Jussieu in adopting the name of Cantua. 
Names derived from languages, such as the Mexican and Peru- 
vian, which are eminently soft, when cropt of their length, are 
certainly much less objectionable, than giving to plants the 
names of men who have no pretensions to a place in the annals 
of botany; — a practice which has now become too common, 
and which reflects discredit on the science, as well as on those who 
impose them. The Periphragmos foetidus of the FI. Peruvia- 
na^ has been judiciously separated by Willdenow^ from Cantua 
J uss. under the name of Vestia. An attentive examination of 
this plant, which produced perfect flowers and ripe fruit this 
season, in the Chelsea Botanic Garden, proves, that it ought to 
be referred to the Solanece near to Cestrum^ with which it agrees 
in the form and valvular aestivation of its corolla ; although it 
differs also very materially from it, in having a straight embryo. 
The figure of the fruit, given by the authors of the Flora Pe- 
9'uviana^ certainly does not belong to it, but distinctly to a spe- 
cies of Cantua^ and most probably to C. pyrifolia, Juss. (Peri- 
phragmos jlexuosus., FI. Peruv). The erroneous figure in Flora 
Peruviana has probably misled M. de Jussieu ■[*, to refer this 
plant to his genus Cantua^ with which, unless habit, it has 
scarcely a single character in common. It is, therefore, sur- 
prising that M. Kunth ;} should again unite it to Cantua. 
The same scientific botanist, in the work quoted, has erro- 
neously described the seeds of Hoitzia as naked. The three 
species of Polemonium mentioned by M. Kunth §, will be 
found, we fear, to constitute but one species, namely, Po- 
lemonium Mexicanum of Cervantes and Lagasca || . M. Kunth 
* Enum. i, p. 208. 
f Annales du Museum, xv. p. 341. $ Nov. Gen. &c. iii. p. 161. 
§ Ibid. iii. p. 160, jl Plant. Nov. p. 10. 
