A new arrangement of the plants of the monandrian class usually called Scitamineae / by William Roscoe.
- William Roscoe
- Date:
- 1807
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A new arrangement of the plants of the monandrian class usually called Scitamineae / by William Roscoe. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![readers, that the characters of many of these plants still remained to be more accurately determined, by those who might have an opportunity of inspecting living specimens; an admonition which every subsequent editor of his works has found it necessary to repeat‘d. About the year ]7<33, a very considerable addition Avas made to the order' of Scitaminean plants, by the labours of ; who, in his researches through various parts of the Kast, disco- vered many plants of this tribe, of Avhich he eommunicated full deseriptions to his friend Retzius, Avho published them in the third fascieulus of his Observationes Botanicce. Retzius, being Avell aware of the imperfections of the Linnaean arrangement of these plants-j-, thought it necessary to attempt a neAV one, from the descriptions of his friend ; although he had never seen even the dried specimens The result is such as might have been ex- pected ; and he candidly confesses his oAvn doubts, as to the ex- pediency of the method proposed by him § ; Avhieh has, hoAv- ever, been recognized by Willdenow, as the latest improvement on this class. In one respect Retzius is entitled to commendation, as he seems to have been the first to remark the great importance of the An- thera, and its appendages, in the proper distinction of these * Character Arnomi, Alpinice, Curcumce, Thalice, ab autoptis, in plantls vivis, accuratius describendus est.” Wild. Sp. PL Berol. 1797* * * § v. 1. 16. f Lectores facib negotio discere possunt characteres generum immortalis a Linne, quEe Scitamineas Monandras pbirimas spectant, omnino insufficienles esse.” See. Reizii Ohs. Bot. Fasc. III. 47. X ‘‘ Qibd certi ego determinem, qui planfas has nequldem siccatas vidi.” Ibid. § “ Sed fateor multa mihi supercsse dubia, quin banc divisioircm opllniam credam. —Probe video, nihil absolute certi de horum generum cbaracteribus determinari posse, antequam reliquae Scitaminese, uti Zingiber, Zedoaria, Cardamoma varia, Galangce, Cui cima rotunda, Sec., descriptee sunt.” Ibid. 48. plants;](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22463720_0008.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
