Botanical Novelties — St. John 
169 
Fig. 5. Nototrkhium vtride var. viride, from isotype; a, habit X V 2 ; h, flower X 8. 
in the mountains of Tahiti. Degener gives 
the new name E. sandwicensis, and his publi- 
cation is valid, though it is not well docu- 
mented. He says merely, not E. tahitensis, 
giving no differentiating characters to sepa- 
rate his newly named species from the Ta- 
hitian one. Later, Krukoff (1939: 226-227) 
discussed the relationship between E. sand- 
wkensis Degener and E. tahitensis Nad. "The 
rediscovery of the very rare E. tahitensis in Ta- 
hiti seems to be essential for ascertaining the 
nomenclatural status of the Hawaiian plant 
now known as E. sandwicensis, 1 have seen 
Nadeand 499 (type of E. tahitensis), deposited 
at Geneva. It consists of a single inflorescence 
with small flower buds, two flowers, one pod, 
one seed, and no leaflets. From this available 
material it is impossible to decide whether or 
not the plant is specifically distinct from the 
plant native to Hawaii." 
The writer had studied the original descrip- 
tion of E. tahitensis Nad. It is detailed and 12 
lines long. The following characters seem 
diagnostic. They are, in translation: lateral 
leaflets cordate, acuminate, glabrous; calyx 
4-toothed; keel broad, rounded, emarginate; 
stamens monadelphous; seeds orange. After 
the writer studied the collections of Erythrina 
in Paris and Geneva, he was able to complete 
the description of E. tahitensis Nad. and to 
