Note 145 — Chapter IV · SPECIES OF AMERICAN GRAPES. (continued 2)

This name has been spelled “Lincecumii” and “Linsecomii.” Buckley tells us (U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt., 1861:486) that this grape was named in honor of “Dr. Gideon Linsecom” of Long Point, Washington County, Texas. Engelmann changed the spelling to Lincecum without giving any reason for the change. Munson states that a daughter of Dr. Lincecum says that her father always spelled his name Lincecum. It is inconceivable that Buckley did not know how to spell his friend’s name. There is other corroborative evidence that Buckley was either a poor penman, or did not read proof, or both. In his Latin description of this species nearly every other word is misspelled, and the mistakes are those of a printer rather than of one whose Latin is weak, such as “totis” for “lobis,” etc. Munson says that on the different herbarium specimens of this species collected by Buckley, the name is spelled both ways but he is not able to tell which are in Buckley’s hand. As the original error seems to be one by the printer or amanuensis it does not seem desirable to perpetuate it. We have consequently adopted the spelling of Engelmann and Munson.