Art. VIII. Description and Natural Classification of the Genus Floerkea, by C. S. Rafinesque.
This genus was discovered in Pennsylvania, near Lancaster, by the Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, who communicated the same to Wildenow of Berlin. This celebrated botanist ascertained that it was a new genus, to which he gave the name of a German botanist, (Floerke) and published it in the third volume of the transactions of the society des Curieux de la Nature of Berlin, for 1801, under the name of Floerkea proserpinacoides, which long and uncouth specific name has been changed by every subsequent author. Michaux has omitted it altogether, (with many more American species) in his Flora Boreali Americana, published in 1803. Persoon calls it Floerkea lacustris, in Syn. plant. 1. p. 393. Muhlenberg Floerkea uliginosa, in Cat. pl. Amer. Sept. p. 36. and Pursh, in Flora Amer. Sept. 1. p. 239, unites it with the genus Nectris, and calls it Nectris pinnata, putting it therefore in the Hexandria digynia of Linnæus, while all the preceding authors had classed it in the Hexandria monogynia. I will show presently which among them appear to be wrong; but I must notice before, that no botanist had, I believe, endeavoured to class it naturally, until Mr. Correa de Serra, who in his reduction of American genera to the natural families of Jussieu, attempted, without having had an opportunity to see the plant, to place it in the family of Junci, taking it therefore to be a monocotyle plant; being led into this error by a mistaken idea, that all hexandrous plants must be monocotyle! But in the spring of 1816, I found this plant in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, (near the falls of the Schuylkill) where it had escaped the attention of all the botanists of that city, and in particular of Dr. William Barton, who has therefore omitted it in his Prodr. fl. Philad. and having communicated it to Mr. Correa, he acknowledged that it was dicotyle, of which fact I was aware, even before seeing the plant and dissecting its seed, by attending to its habit.
The following exact description of this genus will enable the reader to ascertain how far I am correct in my presumptions towards its natural arrangement.
Floerkea. Perigone double persistent, sixpartite; the exterior calicinal 3 partile, sepals acute; the interior shorter, coloured 3 partile, sepals petaloid, oblong, obtuse. Six stamens perigyne, filaments filiform, of the length of the interior sepals, anthers round. One free ovarium, rounded and bilobed, one central and bifod style, two capitated stigmas. Fruit a bilobed atricule, tuberculated and bilocular dispermous, sometimes round, unilocular and monospermous by abortion of one lobe and cell. Seeds attached to the centre near the bottom, nearly lenticular, smooth albuminous, easily divided in two lobes. Habit. Small, delicate, annual, and glabrous plant, with alternate polytome pinnated leaves, flowers axillar, solitary, pedunculated.
Floerkea uliginosa. Caule tenello flaccido erecto simplex, foliis 4 petiolatis imis ternatis, summis pinnato, quinatis, pinnulis lineari oblongis obtusis, integris floribus axillaris, solitaris pedunculis longis apice incrastatis. Stem delicate, soft, upright, and simple, leaves petiolated, the inferior ternated, the superior pinnated, quinate, pinnules linear-oblong obtuse, flowers axillar, solitary, and on long peduncles, swelled under the flower.
Among the several specific names given to this plant, I prefer Muhlenberg's, as it expresses exactly the kind of situations where it grows, say in moist grounds, occasionally swampish or overflowed; those I found near Philadelphia, grew by thousands on the banks of a small brook in a wood below the left side of the falls of Schuylkill. Persoon's name of lacustris, being wrong, as it would seem to imply that it grows in lakes only; and Wildenow's name being too long and illusive, its similarity of habit with the genus Proserpinaca not being very striking. However, even the name of uliginosa is liable to some slight objection; and did I think myself permitted to coin a new name, while so many have been proposed already, I should have called it either F. tenella, or F. flaccida, or F. olitoria, being a very delicate and tender plant, and very good to eat in sallad, as I have tried it myself, its taste is sweet and pleasant, the whole plant may be eaten, (even the root) being all juicy and tender: it grows in such an abundance in some spots, that it might occasionally afford a most precious and delightful sallad, but if cultivated for that purpose, it might be found an agreeable addition to our culinary herbs.
In addition to my above definition, it will be proper to state that the stem of this plant rises from 4 to 8 inches, it is cylindrical, smooth, and yellowish, the middle leaves are the largest, the lower peduncles are longer than the leaves, and the upper ones shorter, the petals or interior sepals, and the stamens are yellow. It blossoms in May, and is annual, it even lasts only three months.
It will be perceived that I do not agree with Mr. Pursh, in uniting this plant with the genus Nectris: he owns himself that it deviates a little from the generic character of Nectris, but these deviations appear to me very material; they exist in the pistils and fruits, the most essential parts of the flowers, since they agree in the perigone and stamens. The genus Nectris (or Calomba of Aublet) has two ovaries, two styles, and two polispermous capsules, or achens! and belongs therefore to the second order Perimesia, (class Eltrogynia) eighth family Achenopsia next to the genus Myriophyllum: while the genus Floerkea which has a bilobed ovary, one central style, two stigmas, and one bilocular dispermous achen, must belong to the eleventh order of the same class; Isostimia, which is characterized by having more than one stigma, the stamens in regular number, and not central; it will form a connecting link between this order and the foregoing Polymesia, by its affinity with many genera of the Euphorbia's tribe, such as Callitriche, Tragia, Mercurialis, &c. from which it differs merely by having hermaphrodite flowers, and perispheric regular stamens. It will at present stand nearly isolated in this order, where it may form the small family Galenidia, along with the genus Galenia, &c. and which shall have much affinity with the family Phytolacia; but this differs by having a multilocular berry, while the Galenia merely differs by having a 4 sided perigone, 8 stamens, and 2 styles.
I admit, however, that there is a strong affinity between the genera Floerkea and Nectris, but stronger affinities often exist in plants of different classes. If, however, it should happen that Aublet[54] might have been mistaken in describing the ovaries and capsules of the Nectris as double, if they should prove to be simple but bilobed, then the Nectris would belong to the same family as the Floerkea; but yet stand as a peculiar genus distinguished by having 2 styles, and the achens not monospermous!
It was insinuated to me by Mr. Correa, that the Floerkea might have some affinity with the tribe of Ranunculaceous, but I cannot discover any, since that tribe is widely different, by having many ovaries, stamens, and fruits, each ovary with 1 style or stigma, a deciduous perigone, the anthers adnate, &c. The analogy in the structure of the seed and habit, is too slight to be taken in consideration.