42 THE PLANT WORI.D 



I hope such a committee will be appointed by the botanists here this 

 month. I, for one, would be willing for you to act alone as such a com- 

 mittee ; indeed, I would greatly prefer it. The bird men, although they 

 have an almost fixed scientific name for each bird, scarcely ever use it, 

 such is the fixedness of the vernacular name, while we botanists have no 

 fixed nomenclature, either scientific or vernacular ! 



I am aware that in any given locality we have about five times as 

 many species of plants as of birds ; but this fact is really no objection or 

 even obstacle to the utility of a fixed vernacular. I have lately concluded 

 that it is good for every nation to have a fixed vernacular name for every 

 species in " natural history." Respectfully yours, . 



It would undoubtedly go far toward popularizing the science of 

 botany if all or even the majority of our plants were known each by a 

 single vernacular name. It is not, however, strictly true that in the sister 

 science of ornithology the common names are ' ' fixed . ' ' The flicker or 

 yellowhammer is known by as many or more aliases than are some of our 

 plants, while many birds, such as the chewink or towhee, are provided 

 with two names of more or less general usage. Popular plant names 

 arise to satisfy local necessities, and are the result of local conditions. It 

 would be difiicult to fasten an alien name upon the people of any given 

 community, and the process of unifying popular plant nomenclature 

 would be quite as impossible as the attempt a few years ago to establish 

 Volapiik as the universal language. There is a step in the right direc- 

 tion, however, which can easily be taken, and we have expressed our- 

 selves strongly in its favor in these columns heretofore. We refer to the 

 use of the generic name of the plant as its common name. There is now a 

 long list of these in general use, many of them out-and-out Greek 

 or Latin words, such as Rhododendron, Chrysanthemum, Verbena, 

 Magnolia, Nasturtium and the like. We can see no good reason why the 

 list should not be greatly extended, and such names as Cyperus, Phacelia, 

 Helianthus, Oxalis, etc., used freely for the common plants to which 

 they belong. 



While discussing this subject we can not refrain from expressing 

 disapproval of the practice which has grown up in recent text-books of 

 providing not merely every genus, but every species, with a so-called 

 common name, the author manufacturing one when ignorant of any 

 existing designation in the vernacular. Dr. Gray very wisely forebore 

 to do this, and inserted only such explanatory names as were in actual 

 use. These creations could not possibly be employed, either in conversa- 

 tion or in literature. Suppose an author were to begin the account of a 

 botanical trip with the following : 



After a long walk I came to the edge of an attractive bog filled with 

 Knieskern's Smooth-fruited Beak-Rush, and the Weak-stalked Club-Rush. 

 Thinking that closer exploration might result in finding the dainty Apic- 



