Note 142 — {41} Fifthly, Of Plants.

Convallaria, L.; Polygonatum, Tourn.; Smilacina, Desf. Many botanists have referred our smaller Solomon’s seal to the nearly akin C. multiflora of Europe; but Dr. Gray (Manual, p. 466) pronounces the former a distinct American species. The second of Josselyn’s species is the “Polygonatum Virginianum, or Virginian’s Salomon’s seale” of Johnson’s Gerard (p. 905), and also of Morison (Hist., cit. L.), and earliest described and figured by Cornuti as P. Canadense, &c., which is Smilacina stellata, (L.) Desf.; peculiar to America. The third is set down by our author, at p. 56, among the “plants proper to the country;” and Wood (New-Eng. Prospect, chap. v.) mentions it among eatable wild fruits, by the same name. It is probably Smilacina racemosa, (L.) Desf.,—a suggestion which I owe to my friend Rev. J. L. Russell’s notes upon Josselyn’s plants, in Hovey’s Magazine (March, April, and May, 1858); papers which were published after the manuscript of this edition had passed from the hands of the editor,—and is also confined to this continent.