346 PHYTOGRAPHY. 



And as the number of known species increased, so did the 

 length of the phrases which were needed for their discrimina- 

 tion. These " differentiae," thus used as specific names (the 

 nomina specified of Linnaeus), became extremely cumbrous. It 

 was about in the middle of his career that Linnaeus suggested 

 what he called tririul names (nomina trivialia) for the specific 

 name, consisting of a single word ; and in the Species Plan- 

 taruin, in 1753, he carried this idea into full effect in Botany. 

 The step was a simple one, but most important; and LinnuHis 

 himself, who generally did not underrate his services to science, 

 seems hardly to have appreeiated its practical value. 1 



704. The Binomial Nomenclature in Natural History, thus 

 established, first separated the name of a plant or of an animal 

 from its diagnosis, descriptive phrase, or character, and reduced 

 the appellation to two words, the first that of its genus, the sec- 

 ond that of its species. The generic name very nearly answers to 

 the surname of a person, as Brown or Jones ; the specific answers 

 to the baptismal name, as John or James. Thus, Quercus alltu is 

 the botanical appellation of the White Oak ; Quercus being that 

 of the genus, and <i//>n (white) that of a particular specie's ; while 

 the Red Oak is named Quercus rubra ; the Scarlet Oak. Quercus 

 cocciitcii; the Live Oak, Quercus virens ; the Ilur Oak, Qm-mis 

 macrocarpa: Magnolia grandiflora is Large-flowered Magnolia; 

 M. inacrophylla, Long-leaved Magnolia, and so on. The name of 

 the genus is a substantive, or at least is a word taken as a suli-tan- 

 ti\e. That of a species is mostly an adjective adjunct, always 

 following the generic name and in the same gender.' 2 This com- 

 bination of generic and specific name is the name of the plant. 3 



70.3. By this system, not only is the name of the plant reduced 

 to two words, but a comparatively moderate number of words 

 serves for the complete designation of more than 120,000 plants, 4 



1 Moreover, he may lie said to have adopted rather than originated the 

 idea; for single-worded specific names were used half a century previous 

 by Bachmami, u/ins Kivinus. 



- It is to lie noted that the classical Latin names of trees are all feminine, 

 therefore (tun-nix II//HI, /'inns rii/iiln, &C. 



1 The name of a subgcnus is sometime-' written in between the two parts 

 of the plant's name, as /'/;)/(.> (failns) Vii-i/iiiimxt. This is the name of the 

 plant and something more. In addition to the name of the species, that of 

 the variety or even suhvariety is sometimes added. 



4 Alphonsr 1 )c( 'andolle several years ago estimated the known species of 

 Flowering Plants at between HID, unit and r.'O.OOi). The larger number may 

 perhaps include the higher orders of the Flowerless series. In the pre-ent 

 state of our knowledge of the lower orders of Cryptogams, no close estimate 

 can be well formed of the actual number of species. 



