120 
ON ARISTOLOCH1A. 
unaccompanied by descriptions, the character derived from 
the Scientific or English name, was the sole guide to a know- 
ledge of the plant. An analogy of character conveyed by the 
name "hirsuta, hairy," hence induced Mr. Nuttall, in his 
Gen. of N. Amer. Plants, page 200, to set down the A. hir- 
suta of Muhl., catal, as a synonyme of A. tomentosa. 
This error can now be corrected by access to a manuscript in 
the hand writing of Mr. Muhlenberg, contained in the library 
of the Academy of Natural Sciences, and by reference to spe- 
cimens in the Herb. A. N. S., labelled, A. hirsuta, Muhl., 
in the hand writing of Lewis David Von Schweinitz, 
P. D., also, to a specimen sent from Virginia, to Prof. Wood. 
The manuscript above alluded to, is entitled " Observatio7ies 
Botanicde de Plantis Americas Septentrionalis. Auctore 
Henrico Muhlenberg, 1807." This work is written in a 
very small hand, which renders it difficult to decipher com- 
pletely. At the 166th page of volume first, there are descrip- 
tions of several species of Aristolochia, the first of which is as 
follows : 
" Aristolochia — — Cherokee Lyons 
caule flexuoso spithameo simplici hirsuto 
foliis alternis cordatis obtusiusculis margine et petiolo 
hirsutis. 
flore subradicali pedunculata, pedunculo bracteato 
cor. hirsuta 
Bad. fibrosa odor a 
hirsuta 
The above description is applicable to the specimens label- 
led hirsuta, in the Herb. A. N. S., the locality of which is 
given "Cherokee," but no donor's name is appended, as well 
as to the specimen in Prof. Wood's collection, sent from Vir- 
ginia, under the name of A. serpentaria. The blanks in the 
descriptions are to supply words which could not be satisfac- 
torily made out ; the first so totally illegible as to render it 
uncertain whether of two or three letters ; the second bears a 
strong resemblance to erist or arist, the last to Jaqn. 
