Index Kewensis Research Articles

A Revision of the North American Species of the Genus thermopsis

During a monographic treatment of the genus Baptisia, interest was aroused in the state of taxonomic confusion into which its closest generic affinity, Thermopsis, had fallen. According to the Index Kewensis and the Gray Herbarium Catalogue, it is comprised of thirty species: eight Asiatic, not considered in this revision; and twenty-two North Americanfour from the southeastern United States, and eighteen from the western United States. The latter group constitutes a western geographical supplement of Baptisia whose western limits roughly coincide with the eastern limits of Thermopsts. The problems were found to be largely bibliographical. The present treatment proposes no novelties, but has indicated two new combinations. It consists largely of a drastic reduction of a number of species. The four heretofore recognized southeastern species are reduced to three, and the eighteen western species have been reduced to seven species and five varieties. A key to the species, and brief descriptions with complete citations of synonyms and type or authentic specimens are given. Relative uniformity, particularly within the western group, makes delimitation of entities difficult in many cases. As in Baptisia, flower structure furnishes little of value in this respect, and has therefore been given little emphasis. Fruit and vegetative characters seem to be the best bases for the separation of species, and have been stressed accordingly. Considerable doubt is felt by the author as to the validity of the two varieties of T. rhombifolia: annulocarpa and arenosa, for they

Index Kewensis in Improved Loose Leaf Ledger Form

Index Kewensis in Improved Loose Leaf Ledger Form

THE CYTO‐TAXONOMY OF THE TELEPHIUM SECTION OF SEDUM

CHROMOSOME N UMBER, behavior, and morphology are some of the natural indexes to the phylogeny of a group of organisms. Consequently, as a result of developments in the field of cytology, rather frequent attempts have been made in recent years to analyze on a chromosomal, basis the taxonomic status and affinities of certain plants. Often the results of those attempts have supported conclusions already reached by systematists; in other cases no such agreement has been found, and different interpretations have been suggested. In 1933 a chromosomal survey of Sedum was initiated as a beginning of such an analysis of the Crassulaceae, for only a system built on entirely new (embryologic?) foundations will perhaps have a chance of producing a more acceptable systematization within this family than the Linnean (Froderstr6m, 1929). An introductory paper on Sedum (Baldwin, 1935), a study of polyploidy in Sedum ternatumn Michx. (Baldwin, 1936), and a report on chromosome numbers in Crmssula (Baldwin, in press) have been written as parts of this analysis of the family. The cyto-taxonomy of section Telephium of intergrading forms that to determine the limits of a species becomes very difficult. The taxonomy of this group therefore presents numerous problems in synonymy and degree of specific rank. To illustrate, a s:ngle example, perhaps of the most confused condition in the section, will be cited. According to the Index Kewensis, 25 species of Anacampseros and 34 species of Sedumn are reduced to S. Telephium, and similarly 20 species of Anacampseros and 6 species of Sedum are reduced to S. maximum. And, according to Fr6derstr6m (1929), whom Praeger (1932) considers the iauthor of the best study as yet produced on the genus, S. maximum is one of seven subspecies of S. Telephium. Material for study was taken from plants growing in the Sedum collection at The Blandy Experimental Farm, Boyce, Virginia. Specimens of the species herein discussed, as well as of other species investigated, will be deposited in the Bailey Hortorium, Cornell University. Crystal violet preparations were made of root tips fixed in Nawaschin's solution and sectioned at 7-13 microns. Aceto-carmine smears were made of anthers and root tips subsequent to

Index Kewensis Plantarum Phanerogamarum

THERE is always a welcome for a new supplement of the “Index Kewensis”, which supplies the botanist with a list of the names of genera and species published during a five-year period, and thanks are due to Miss Green and Dr. Sprague of the Kew Herbarium for the skilled and careful labour involved in its compilation. A useful innovation in this eighth supplement is the inclusion as an appendix of an alphabetical list of new or previously overlooked generic names under their respective families. Index Kewensis Plantarum Phanerogamarum. Supplementum Octavum Nomina et Synonyma Omnium Generum et Specierum ab initio Anni MDCCCCXXVI usque ad finem Anni MDCCCCXXX nonnulla etiam antea edita complectens. Ductu et consilio A. W.Hill. Confecerunt Herbarii Horti Regii Botanici Kewensis Curatores. Pp. iii + 256. (Oxford: Clarendon Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1933.) 75s. net.

Additions to Index Kewensis: XI

Additions to Index Kewensis: XI

Additions to the Index Kewensis: XI

Additions to the Index Kewensis: XI

Additions to Index Kewensis: X

Additions to Index Kewensis: X

INDEX KEWENSIS

INDEX KEWENSIS

Additions to the Index Kewensis: IV

Additions to the Index Kewensis: IV

Additions to the Index Kewensis: V

Additions to the Index Kewensis: V

Additions to the Index Kewensis: VI

Additions to the Index Kewensis: VI

Additions to the Index Kewensis: II

Additions to the Index Kewensis: II

Additions to the Index Kewensis: III

Additions to the Index Kewensis: III

Additions to the Index Kewensis

Additions to the Index Kewensis

Index Kewensis Plantarum Phanerogamarum Supplementum Quintum Nomina et Synonyma Omnium Generum et Specierum ab Initio Anni MDCCCCXI usque ad finem Anni MDCCCCXV Nonnulla Etiam Antea Edita Complectens

THERE is probably no publication which is awaited with such interest and impatience as the issue from time to time of the supplements of the “Index Kewensis.” Had it not been for the interruption of the war, the list of genera and species published, or the publication of which was ascertained; in the five years 1911–15, would doubtless have been available to botanists less than six years after the second date. This delay was inevitable, but it may be assumed that Supplement 6, comprising the years 1916–20, is well on the way and will be available for workers before another five years have passed. Some names published abroad during 1914 and 1915 were not noted in time for insertion in the present supplement, but will be included in the next.

NOTES ON THE FORMS OF CASTELA GALAPAGEIA

According to the Index Kewensis, the genus Castela Turp. is composed of eleven species, which occur for the most part in Mexico, West Indies, and southern South America, the genus being thus distinctly American in its distribution. One of these species, C. galapageia Hook. f., is peculiar to the Galapagos Islands and was described from material collected by Darwin when he visited the Islands on his voyage around the world as naturalist of the Beagle. Darwin collected his material on Chatham Island, and it was not known until nearly sixty years afterwards, when Baur visited the Galapagos Islands, that this species occurred on other islands of this group. Baur succeeded in finding this species on Albemarle, Bindloe, Charles, Chatham, Duncan, Jervis, and James Islands, and the collections made by him were studied by Robinson and Greenman' of the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University. Eight years after Baur was on the islands, they were again visited by Snodgrass and Heller of the Hopkins-Stanford Expedition. Their collections of plants were the most complete that had been taken from the islands up to that time, but they succeeded in extending the range of C. galapageia to but one other island, viz., James. The collections of Snodgrass and Heller were studied by Robinson, who, aided by the additional specimens which this collection furnished, thought that he could recognize formal differences in the Castela material. He consequentlv described six new forms2 basing his differences mainly on the arming of the stem and the shapes of the leaves. The forms described by Robinson are: albemarlensis, bindloensis, carolensis, duncanensis, jacobensis, and jervensis, the forms being named for the various islands respectively on which the type specimen of each was collected. I was fortunate enough to secure much additional material of this species when I visited the Galapagos Islands in I905-I906 as

(1) Páléontologie végétale Cryptogames cellulaires et Cryptogames vasculaires (2) Die Oekologie der Pflanzen (3) The Diseases of Tropical Plants (4) Icones Orchidearum Austro-Africanarum Extra-Tropicarum; or, Figures, with Descriptions of Extra-Tropical South African Orchids (5) Index Kewensis Plantarum Phanerogamarum Supplementum Quartum (1906–1910)

(1) DR FERNAND PELOURDE, préparateur at the National Museum of Natural History, is publishing, under the auspices of the Encyclopédic Scientifique, an account of palæobotany in accordance with present knowledge. In this, the first volume, he deals with cellular and vascular cryptogams; in two subsequent volumes he will deal with gymnosperms and angiosperms, and will also formulate general conclusions from botanical and geological points of view. M. R. Zeiller, to whom the volume is dedicated, has written the preface. The text comprises a short introduction on the methods of preservation of fossil plants and a classified list of geological strata. The great plant-groups are then studied in order beginning with bacteriaceæ, including reference to their work in formation of coal. The chapter on the cellular cryptogams occupies only twenty-two pages, but the reader is referred to numerous papers dealing especially with fossil algæ. The groups of vascular cryptogams are considered in the following order: equisetales, sphenophyllales, lycopodiales, filicales. The little volume, which presupposes some knowledge of general botany, especially anatomy, gives a somewhat condensed review of the subject, but will enable the student of botany to form an idea of the present position of our knowledge of the groups considered so far as concerns extinct forms. A useful feature is the bibliography which follows the subject matter. (1) Páléontologie végétale Cryptogames cellulaires et Cryptogames vasculaires. By Dr. F. Pelourde. Pp. xxviii + 360. (Paris: O. Doinet Fils, 1914.) Price 5 francs. (2) Die Oekologie der Pflanzen. By Dr. Oscar Drude. Pp. x + 308. (Braunschweig: F. Vieweg and Son, 1913.) Price 10 marks. (3) The Diseases of Tropical Plants. By Prof. M. T. Cook. Pp. xi + 317. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1913.) Price 8s. 6d. net. (4) Icones Orchidearum Austro-Africanarum Extra-Tropicarum; or, Figures, with Descriptions of Extra-Tropical South African Orchids. By Harry Bolus. Vol. iii. 100 plates. (London: W. Wesley and Son, 1913.) Price 30s. net. (5) Index Kewensis. Plantarum Phanerogamarum. Supplementum Quartum. (1906–1910.) Ductu et Consilio D. Prain. Pp. 252. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913.) Price 36s. net.

Brazil in 1909

A COUNTRY sixteen times the size of France, with a population barely half as numerous, a country teem ing with mineral wealth, favoured with majestic river-systems, and climates capable of producing everything needed by man, boasting, too—at least on paper—a body of laws unsurpassed anywhere in their broadminded liberality—such is the theme Mr. Oakenfull has undertaken to expound. An immense undertaking, indeed, were it set out in all possible fulness of detail; but when compressed into some two hundred pages, requiring a tactful hand to give each subject its due space and no more. This task of selection has been carried out well. Publicists, financiers, miners, pastoralists, agriculturists, and tourists will all find their requirements catered for. The best chapters are those devoted to mineralogy and applied botany; but, as so often happens when the writer is not an expert botanist, a sad hash is made of some of the Latin names. For instance, Cattleya amethyst oglobossa is not in the “Index Kewensis,” nor do botanists talk of violaceas or bromeliaceas. For his next edition Mr. Oakenfull should enlist the services of a botanist; he would also do well to revise his composition in places. Moreover, his account of the climate seems to us rather too optimistic; when the heat is moist, in Brazil as in all tropical countries, the conditions are apt to be very enervating. To the student of social phenomena the most interesting part of the book is that dealing with the rapid advances made under the Republic. The inducements to colonists, it may be added, are simply astounding in their liberality Brazil in 1909. By J. C. Oakenfull. Pp. 237.(Brazilian Government Commission of Propaganda and Economic Expansion. Paris, 1909.)

Index Kewensis Plantarum Phanerogamarum

WORKERS everywhere in systematic botany will welcome the appearance of this, the third, supplement of the Kew Index. We now have a register of the generic and specific names of seed-plants up to and including the year 1905—a boon to workers which only those can adequately appreciate who remember the period when there was no Kew Index. The supplement follows closely the plan of the original work—would that those concerned could be persuaded to make one small but valuable improvement! namely, the inclusion of the date of publication in all the references to the original descriptions, as is now done only in the case of periodicals. Index Kewensis Plantarum Phanerogamarum. Supplementum tertium nomina et synonyma omnium generum et specierum ab initio anni MDCCCCI usque ad finem anni MDCCCCV complectens. Ductu et consilio D. Prain. confecerunt herbarii horti regii botanici Kewensis curatores. Pp. iii+193. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908.) Price 28s. net.

Index Kewensis Plantarum Phanerogamarum; Supplementum Secundum, nomina et synonyma omnium generum et specterum ab initio anni MDCCCXCVI usque ad finem anni MDCCCC complectens

THE second and concluding part of supplement ii.of the “Index Kewensis” follows quickly on the first. This means that we now have a list of the names and synonyms of genera and species of flowering plants published from the foundation of binominal nomenclature to the end of 1900 complete except for a serious gap in supplement i. representing the last third of the alphabet for the years 1886–1895. Three parts of the first supplement appeared between September, 1901, and November, 1903; the fourth is therefore much overdue. Its delay is the more to be regretted as the period with which it is concerned was one of considerable activity in systematic botany, including, for example, the great development of the Berlin school under Dr. Engler's direction. It is to be hoped that the completion of this portion of the work, for which Kew is not responsible, will soon be announced. Index Kewensis Plantarum Phanerogamarum; Supplementurn Secundum, nomina et synonyma omnium generum et specterum ab initio anni MDCCCXCVI usque ad finem anni MDCCCC complectens. Ductu et consilio W. T. Thiselton-Dyer. confecerunt herbarii horti regii botanici Kewensis curatores. Leucocoryne-Zygostates et emendanda addenda. Pp. 105–204. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) Price 12s. net.