Volume 1

Drugs and medicines of North America : a publication devoted to the historical and scientific discussion of botany, pharmacy, chemistry and therapeutics of the medical plants of North America, their constituents, products and sophistications ... v. 1-2; [Apr. 1884-June 1887].

Date:
1884-1887. [Cincinnati, Lloyd Library, 1930-31]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Drugs and medicines of North America : a publication devoted to the historical and scientific discussion of botany, pharmacy, chemistry and therapeutics of the medical plants of North America, their constituents, products and sophistications ... v. 1-2; [Apr. 1884-June 1887]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    botanical garden at Kingsess where it continued to flourish luxuriently for a number of years. We are unable to find the name that Bartram applied to the plant. His son, William, called the plant Marbosia tinctoria,* * * § in honor of M. de Marbois f and it is probable that he received the name from his father. J All writers agree that the plant was introduced into Europe in 1766, by John Bush, who probably obtained it by purchase from Bartram. As it was easily propagated it became established in a number of botanical gardens, but was overlooked by botanical writers for twenty years. In 1784 || L’Heritier § described and illustrated it with a beautiful engraving in his work entitled “ Stirpes Novae aut Minus Cognitae.” He called it Zanthorhiza apiifolia.** In 1785, Humphrey Marshall, a Philadelphia horticulturist, published his Arbustrum Americanum, or catalogue of American trees and shrubs, and described the plant as Xanthorhiza simplicissima, ft and in our opinion this is the prior name and should be adopted. JJ In i8o2,|||| Dr. James Woodhouse figured and described the plant and * Barton gives the name Zanthorhiza Marbosia, Bartram as one of the synonyms for the plant. We do not know where this name was published, but it was probably in one of the horticultural catalogues issued by William Bartram, after the generic name Xanthorrhiza had been established by Marshall and L’Heritier. It is evident that Marbosia was the original generic name given the plant by the Bartrams. f The Marquis de Marbois, whose proper name was Frangois Barbe de Marbois, was an eminent French states- man and literator who was born at Metz in 1745. He was prominent in French politics and wrote several works, one a history of Louisiana. For the French nation, he negotiated the sale of the tract, formerly known as Louisiana, to the United States. He was not a patron of botany and we do not know why Bartram should desire to commemorate his name by a genus of plants. J We have searched in vain for the original reference for this name, Marbosia tinctoria, by William Bartram. The only work of importance published by him was his Travels in North and South Carolina, printed in 1792, but we do not find any reference to the plant in this work, and had he mentioned it, he would have probably used the name Xanthorrhiza, which was by that time well established and known. John Bartram and after him William, his son,were horticulturists and sold plants to the gardens of Europe, They issued a “ sheet catalogue, published by John and William Bartram, botanists in Kingsess; containing the names of Forest Trees and Shrubs growing in, or near, their garden” (see Marshall’s Arbustrum, page xx. of the introduction). It was in this catalogue, no doubt, which we have not been able to obtain, that the name Marbosia tinctoria was printed. || Although dated this year, it is probable the work was not issued for several years afterwards. See note below. § Charles Louis L'Heritier was a wealthy French botanist, who resided in Paris. He began the study of botany as a pursuit to fill his leisure hours, about 1770, and died in 1800, murdered by his son. He was an ardent admirer of Linnaeus,and as at that time French botanists were strongly opposed to the Linnaean system and in favor of that of their own countrymen, Tournefort and Jussieu, L’Heritier met with bitter opposition at home. In order to establish his own views, having wealth and leisure, L’Heritier began the publication in fascicles of an expensive work, elegantly illus- trated, called “ Stirpes Novae aut Minus Cognitae,” and Xanthorrhiza was one of the plants described in this work. f Viz., plants new or little known. ** The generic name Xanthorrhiza is derived from yellow and pi£a root, from the color of the rhizome. The specific name Apiifolia is from Apium, the former generic name of the Parsley and Folium, a leaf, from the resem- blance of the leaves of this plant to those of the Garden Parsley (now Petroselinum sativum, formerly Apium sativum). -j-j- Viz., most simple, a prominent characteristic of the unbranched stems. XX A careful consideration of all the evidence on the subject convinces us that the generic name Xanthorrhiza was originated by Marshall, and that L’Heritier deliberately stole the name, ante-dated his publication, and received unmerited credit as its author. It is evident that’one copied from the other and it seems very strange that Marshall, a comparatively obscure American botanist, should have been familiar with an expensive French work issued by L’Heritier only a year previous, and on a subject not confined to American plants. Besides Marshall distinctly states that “he imposed the name (Xanthorhiza) before he heard of Bartram’s name (Marbosia).” That L’Heritier was guilty of ante-dating some of his fascicles was charged and proven by a Spanish botanist, Cavanilles, whose work on the 'Mallow family was seemingly forestalled by L’Heritier. |||]Medical Repository, 1802, p. 159.