A Prior Name for the Hawaiian Gouldia terminalis (Rubiaceae) 
Robert L. Wilbur 1 
Among the most frequently encountered woody 
plants in the wetter, forested portions of the 
Hawaiian Islands are members of the extremely 
variable genus Gouldia. Fosberg (1937) pre- 
sented the results of his detailed study of this 
baffling genus and concluded that the variability 
could be properly categorized in not less than 
three species composed of more than 90 varieties 
and forms. However, even this number of for- 
mally named taxa failed adequately to represent 
the variability, for hybridization was so rampant 
that at that time more than 50 hybrids were 
also recognized and characterized. It is therefore 
not surprising that Gouldia has acquired a repu- 
tation, among botanists working on Hawaiian 
plants, not unlike that of Crataegus and Rubus 
in the eastern United States. Like those genera, 
it is naturally felt that its taxonomy can now be 
handled only by a specialist. The present note, 
written far from Hawaii, is therefore merely 
concerned with the nomenclature of the most 
widespread and variable species of this endemic 
genus. 2 
Although members of the genus undoubtedly 
must have been collected by botanists on several 
expeditions prior to that of the "Rurik” led by 
Kotzebue, the first description of a species is 
apparently the detailed analysis provided by 
Chamisso and Schlechtendal (1829) of their 
"Kaduae affinis.” Chamisso was the botanist on 
Kotzebue’s voyage, and the original collection 
apparently was made on the slopes of the Koolau 
range of Oahu. Their account, as pointed out by 
Heller ( 1897), Fosberg (1937:4,26) and Bul- 
1 Department of Botany, Duke University, Durham, 
North Carolina. Grateful acknowledgment is made to 
the National Science Foundation for a grant of re- 
search funds to Duke University (NSF-Grant 18799) 
which made the present study possible. 
Manuscript received March 29, 1962. 
2 Dr. F. R. Fosberg’s thoughtful advice is here 
acknowledged with appreciation, but this does not 
imply that he is necessarily convinced of the change 
proposed in this paper. 
lock (1958), did not result in a published bi- 
nomial at that time as was inferred by A. Gray 
(I860) and the Index Kewensis (1895). In 
spite of the unusually detailed analysis of the 
sixth species appearing in their newly described 
genus Kadua , Chamisso and Schlechtendal failed 
to provide a binomial for this plant; they merely 
indicated its close affinities to Kadua , from 
whose species it differed in its indehiscent fruit 
and toothed stipules. 
The following year DeCandolle (1830) listed 
each of Chamisso and Schlechtendal’s species 
and condensed the original detailed accounts of 
each into but a few lines. Their ”6. Kaduae 
affinis ” appeared in DeCandolle’s Prodromus 
in the form quoted below: 
6. K? AFFINIS (Cham, et Schlecht. 1. c. p. 
164.) ramis tetragonis transversim rugosis, foliis 
elliptico-lanceolatis acutis basi obtusis breve 
petiolatis, stipulis membranaceis utrinque sub- 
dentatis deciduis, cyma thyrsoidea terminali, 
drupa subglobosa, limbo calycis obliterato infra 
apicem coronata, indehiscente. [Woody tree or 
shrub} in insula O-Wahu. Flor. ignoti. 
Fosberg (1936:4) dismissed DeCandolle’s 
publication as a nomenclatural source in the 
statement quoted below: 
DeCandolle, in 1830, a year after the publication 
of Chamisso and Schlechtendal’s work, credited 
the latter with a f Kadua - affinis Cham, and 
Schlecht.,’ appending a description which is an 
obvious condensation of the description pub- 
lished by Chamisso and Schlechtendal. DeCan- 
dolle’s entire treatment of Kadua is based 
directly on the original treatment of the genus 
by Chamisso and Schlechtendal, with the same 
species arranged in the same order and with 
descriptions which are identical but somewhat 
condensed ... It is obvious that f Kadua affinis’ 
is the result of a misinterpretation of the intent 
of the original authors of the genus Kadua, as 
DeCandolle added nothing to the descriptions 
and no discussion. Therefore, it is evident that 
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