Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 34 (1896).djvu/270

 246 ARRUDA'S BRAZILIAN PLANTS. plant is identified with Vitls sicyoides Baker — the only Brazilian vine used in dyeing. Cocos VENTRicosA. Mttcaaha or Moucaba. Koster, 485. This certainly = Acrocomia sclerocarpa Mart. The name '* Ma- cauba" is assigned to this only by Martins (Hist. Nat. Palm. ii. G6), Miers (Cat. Woods), Drude (in Mart. Fl. Bras. iii. ii. 201), Gardner (Travels, 182), &c., and the descriptions of the tree and its uses agree entirely with Arruda's account of his Cocos ventricosa, which Miers quotes as a synonym of A. sclerocarpa. Convolvulus mechoacan. Batata de purga. leaf, branch, and fruit ; of this I have given the description in my Centuria of new plants." — Arruda in Koster, Trav. 498. Mr. Jackson probably considers this identical with C. Mechoacan (misprinted Mechoacana in Ind. Kew.) Vitman Summa, i. 434, which he says = Ipomcea Jalapa. I am not concerned to discuss this synonymy, but I think it is clear that Arruda's Brazilian plant is different from the Mexican species. " Batata de purga" of the Brazilians is cited by Martins (Mat. Med. Bras. 78), Meisner (in Fl. Bras. vii. 211), and others as = Ipomcea operculata Mart. & Spix ; and I see no reason to object to this determination for Arruda's plant. CoRYPHA CERiFERA. Camauha or Carnaiha. Koster, 494. = Copernicia ceri/era Mart. Hist. Palm. Bras. 242 I DoRSTENiA rotundifolia. Coutra-herva. [498. Dorstenia Pernambucana. Contra-herva defolha longana. Koster, Arruda gives no description of either of these, and they are treated as doubtful by Martins (Mat. Med. Bras. 107) and Miquel (in Fl. Bras. iv. i. 170). A "quid?" should follow these names in Index Kewensis. Geoffroya spiNOSA. Umari. *« Jacq. Stirp. Americ." Koster, 497. The Pernambuco plant which Arruda describes under this name is, as he suggests, not identical with Jacquin's West Indian species ; Martins later (Syst. Mat. Med. Bras. 63) employed the same name for the ** Umari," which is G. superba Humb. & Bonpl., as stated by Gardner (Trav. in Brazil, 133), who gives an account of its use by the natives agreeing with that of Arruda ; and by Allemao (Coll. Med. Bras. 31). G. superba is the only Brazilian species of the genus. Mr. Jackson correctly gives the distribution of G. spinosa as ** Ind. occ," but makes no allusion to the Brazilian plant, which must stand as — G. spinosa Arruda (1810) ex Koster, Trav. 497 = superba. Hibiscus Pernambucensis. Guaxuma do Mangue. Koster, 487. Mr. Jackson retains this name, and also H, pernambucensis Bertol. His entries are — pernambucensis, Bertol. in Opusc. Scient. iv. (1823) 229 = praec. ?" It is evident from the descriptions of each that these are identical, and that they must be referred to H. tiliaceus L., under which
 * ' The true Convolvulus mechoacan is different from the other iu
 * pernambucensis, Arruda, in Koster, Trav. Braz. 487.