The Scottish Naturalist. 67 



VIII. Misnomers. 

 IX. Corruptions. 

 X. Puzzlers. 

 I. Names derived from persons. The place of honour should 



be given to the Linncea borealis, which owes its name to the great 



botanist, Linnaeus, whose portrait usually shows him with a sprig 



of this northern evergreen in his button-hole. 



Men of science have also given their names to the following 



among many others : — 



Fuchsia, after L. Fuchs, a German botanist of the 1 6th century. 



Camellia, after George J. Kamel, a Moravian Jesuit, who intro- 

 duced it into Europe last century. 



Dahlia, from Mexico, after Dahl, a Swedish botanist. 



Magnolia, after Pierre* Magnol, a French botanist of last century. 



Banksia, in compliment to Sir Joseph Banks, an eminent natur- 

 alist of George III.'s reign. 



Adansonia, the extraordinary African tree which Humboldt con- 

 sidered as probably " the oldest organic monument of our 

 planet," is named after the French naturalist, Michael 

 Adanson, who last century was the author of no less than 65 

 different methods of classifying plants. 

 Personal names have been conferred on other plants, such as 



Cinchona (Peruvian Bark), after the Countess of Chinchon (wife 

 of the Governor of Peru), whom it cured of fever in 1638, 

 when the Spaniards brought it to Europe. 



Gentian, after Gentius, an Illyrian King, 180 B.C., said to have 

 first discovered its properties. 



Pepper, from French le poivre, after Le Poivre, a governor of the 

 Isle of France. 



The genus Nicotiana (species Tobacco), named after Jean Nicot, 

 who introduced tobacco into France in 1560. 



Quassia, a South American tree, named by Linnaeus after Quassi, 

 a negro, who pointed out the use of the bark of the tree as a 

 tonic. 

 Thomson's Weed (Lepidium draba), curiously named after Mr. 

 Thomson, owner of a chalk-pit, into which the straw from the 

 soldier's beds brought from the ill-starred Walcheren expedi- 

 tion was thrown, and out of which this weed sprung for the 

 first time in England. 

 Greengage got its name by an accident. In 1725, Sir Wm. Gage 

 introduced some French fruit-trees into Britain ; but in the 

 passage across the Channel, the ticket of the Reine Claude 



