Thanks to Jacob for resolving this about as far as can be done unless someone has a copy of the second ed. of Species plantarum handy. (Tropicos lists the first appearance of A. canadensis in that ed., while MOBOT has only digitized the first and third editions, which are so poorly indexed as to be nearly useless). At least Guerney is in between Capetown and Kew (or Uppsala)! I am often amazed that plant biologists don't have to take a year or two of latin, although it would often be useless for deciphering the intentions of modern (as in post-Renaissance) botanists. Best, Max > > Message: 10 > Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:53:50 -1000 > From: "Jacob Knecht" <jacobknecht@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [pbs] canadensis > To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> > Message-ID: > <2f42069d0803251453r3de80f7dlb86da33dfdb9681@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > HI Linda, Max, and Alberto, > > On page 13 of The Color Encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs, there is a > paragraph retelling how Nerine sarniensis received it's specific > epithet to commemorate Sarnia, the Latin name for the isle of Guernsey > where the bulbs naturalised "after a Dutch ship returning from Japan > in about 1655 with bulbs in her cargo" apparently lost some and washed > ashore. It goes on to say that, "The names of several other Cape > bulbs described in the 17th century make wildly inaccurate allusions > to their purported places of origin, among them Albuca canadensis ( = > A. flaccida), Brunsvigia orientalis, and the Malgas (Madagascar) lily, > Cybistetes longifolia." > > >From what other accounts I've read it seems that bulbs were collected > at different parts of the world on a ships' single voyage and that > often the collection would get jumbled up by the time it arrived back > in Europe. One can only imagine the confusion with which Linnaeus and > other taxonomists we beset with when naming some of the first Cape > bulbs. > > Aloha, > > Jacob Knecht > Honolulu, Hawai`i >