Subject: Re: Latin Name equals botanical name?

From: "James M. Glennon" <[email-masked]>
Date: 21 Mar 1996 16:12:13 GMT

The current taxonomy is:
Hierochloe odorata (L.) Beauv.

Hope this is what you are looking for.

Jim

[email-masked] (Garrett Keel) wrote:
>Torresia odorata (L.) Hitche
>Commonly known as Sweetgrass
>Native American Indian name: wicko'bimucko'si (meaning sweetgrass)
>
>Does anyone know that botanical name for this plant?  I can't seem to
>find it anywhere.

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From: [email-masked] (Garrett Keel)
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 96 07:14:49 GMT

Email & simultaneous news posting appreciated...
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Ian Staples)
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 1996 11:34:20 GMT

>Does anyone know that botanical name for this plant?  I can't seem to

According to Willis (6th Edition) _Torresia_ Allem. is a legume genus.
(1 species from Brazil) also known as _Amburana_ Schwacke et Taub.  
But then, if you look in the Supplement you find: _Torresia_ Ruiz et Pav. 
(_Hierochloe_ R. Br.), a grass with 12 species from temperate regions.

Then, according to the USDA's Agriculture Handbook No. 505, "Sweetgrass"
is _Hierochloe odorata_ (L.) Beauv., and Willis [main text] confirms that 
_Hierochloe_ S.G. Gmel. is a grass genus ("13 temp. and cold.  1 Brit.")

Damn!  You've picked on an awkward one here it seems -- and I was going
to get my roast lamb on *before* 9 p.m. for a change!  Ah well, dinner
at midnight again I guess.  :-(

... Down corridor to raid colleague's shelves ... found Willis 7th edition.

Let's see now... Hah!  It *is* rather complex:

_Hierochloe_ Beauv. = seq.
_Hierochloe_ {J.G. Gmel.] R.Br. Gramineae. 30 temp. & cold; trop. mts.
     Exceptionally strong odour of coumarin in _H. odorata_ (L.) Beauv.

Note that the second version of _Hierochloe_ is the *conserved* name, so
that is the one now correctly used for the genus.

_Toresia_ Pers. = _Torresia_ Ruiz & Pav. = _Hierochloe_ R.Br. (Gramin.)
_Torresea_ Allem. Leguminosae. 2 Brazil.
_Torresia_ Ruiz & Pav. = _Hierochloe_ R.Br. (Gramin.)  [as shown above]
_Torresia_ Willis (sphalm.) = _Torresea_ Allem. (Legumin.).

Hope this helps!

Cheers,  Ian S.

P.S.  Oh, yes.  That _Amburana_ Schwacke & Taub. is now (Willis 7th ed.)
said to have "3 Brazil. Good timber."  [And the synonomy seems to have
vanished as the number of species increases.  ;-) ]

P.P.S.  I'm not sure what Willis really means by a couple of his
abbreviations, and he declined to elaborate on them because they
were "obvious"  8-)   However, I think "= seq." simply means "see
the following entry", which would make sense; and I suspect "sphalm."
comes from Greek or Latin for "deceptive" -- i.e. Willis cocked this
up in his 6th Edition by confusing "Torresia" with "Torresea".

-- 

Ian Staples                        E-mail : [email-masked]
c/- P.O. Box 1054 MAREEBA          Phone  : +61 (0)70 928 555 Home 924 847
Queensland Australia 4880            Fax  : +61 (0)70 923 593   "   "   "