ON TIIE TYPE-SPECIES OF BIGNONIA 
193 
tliis connection that Mr. Itehder, after consideration of my supple¬ 
mentary note, wrote to me in Dec. 1922 : “ I think the shape of the 
disk in Tournefort’s figure is the most conclusive evidence that the 
plant Tournefort intended to figure is Bignonia capreolata 
The sole character on which Dr. Blake relies to support his 
identification of Bignonia Tourn. with B. raclicans is the shape of 
the calyx-lobes. He states that “ in B. capreolata .... the calyx 
has a nearly or quite truncate margin, with the teeth either very short, 
blunt, and obscure, or represented by minute mucronulations.” In 
point of fact, the calyx of B. capreolata is extremely variable as 
regards its lobing. It is about 8-9 mm. long in a dried state, and 
frequently has lobes 2-3 mm. long, both in wild and cultivated 
specimens. The lobes may be rounded or shortly ovate-deltoid, with 
or without an apiculus. The lobing is frequently irregular, as it is in 
Tournefort’s calyx, where the lobes are markedly unequal in length 
in fig. AD. The calyx-lobes of B. radicans , on the other hand, are 
equal and acuminate or very acute, and decidedly longer in proportion 
to their width than those in Tournefort’s plate. 
Dr. Blake thinks that the lobing of the calyx is unlikely to be 
misrepresented. Deference to previous figures of B. capreolata 
demonstrates the fact that I7tli century botanical draughtsmen were 
apt to pay relatively little attention to the calyx, and sometimes con¬ 
ventionalized it so much as to render it quite unreliable for purposes 
of identification. The calyx-lobes of B. capreolata were misrepre¬ 
sented by Zanoni (1st. Bot. 74, t. 28, 1775) as being lanceolate 
or ovate-lanceolate and very acute. In Dodart (Mem. 71, 1676) 
they are shown as unilaterally split (spathaceous) in most of the 
flowers, bilabiate in an old calyx, and with deltoid very acute lobes in 
a flower-bud. Boccone (Ic. 30, t. 15, 1674) has the calyx-lobes as 
long as the tube, though in other respects his figure is an excellent 
representation of B. capreolata , considering the date. Tournefort’s 
figure (Elem. t. 72, 1694) published just twenty years later shows a 
marked advance in the delineation of the calyx, the lobes being con¬ 
siderably shortened. Further stages may be seen in Bot. Mag. t. 864 
(1805); and Britton and Brown, Ill. FI. ed. 2, iii. 237 (191.3). In 
the last-mentioned the corolla is almost actinomorphic with subacute 
lobes—Tournefort’s corolla is more faithful to nature. No one has 
questioned the fact that Boccone’s and Zanoni’s figures represent 
B. capreolata , in spite of the calyx-lobes being very incorrectly 
drawn. Why then should there be any difficulty in accepting Tourne¬ 
fort’s calyx, which is a much better representation ? Blake has made 
the mistake of judging 17tli century illustrations by 20th century 
standards. 
T. A. Sprague. 
