A Review of the Cruciferous Genus Selenia

Abstract

Selenia, established by Nuttall in 1825, for thirteen years included only its original element, S. aurea. A variety, /3, was diagnosed by Torrey and Gray in the Flora of North America in 1838. Collections by Captain Pope's Expedition added a second species, S. dissecta, described by the same authors in their botanical report of the expedition, published in 1855. In Watson's review of Selenia for the Synoptical Flora, 1895, the genus remained unchanged in concept, and except for the substitution of var. aperta S. Wats. for Torrey and Gray's var. /3 of S. aurea, no change in nomenclature was made. In the first edition of Small's Flora of the Southeastern United States this variety became S. aperta (S. Wats.) Small. The three species, S. aurea, dissecta and aperta, then comprised the total content of Selenia for twentyeight years, or until 1931, when Cory described S. Jonesii. There followed S. mexicana Standl., 1937, and the next year S. grandis Martin and S. Oinosepala Steyermark appeared.