Cockayne. — The Terms "Species" and "Variety " in Botany. 79 



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misrepresentation of natural truth, perhaps more than any other the source 

 of the plausible fallacies regarding evolution that have so long obstructed 

 progress."* 



Before publishing either a species or a variety it seems best to be in 

 no hurry. Few dream of testing the stability of characters in a plant by 

 cultivation, and fewer of extending this to methods of pedigree-culture. 

 Taxonomy is assuredly not a matter of the herbarium merely ; real progress 

 depends upon intensive studies in the field and cultural experiments in 

 the garden. It is surely better to apply a temporary " nomen nudum " 

 to a supposed new species or variety than to rush into print and bestow a 

 name based upon insufficient material and with no knowledge of the plant 

 other than that which a few scraps of dried material afford. A temporary 

 name for a plant may be a necessity in the case of ecological studies, but 

 for a permanent one wrongly bestowed, which must enter into synonymy, 

 there is generally no excuse, since it can serve no conceivable purpose. 

 There is ample room for taxonomic research in the New Zealand flora apart 

 from the hunt for " something new." There are few aggregates which do 

 not demand a most searching examination, and variety after variety requires 

 delimiting and naming. But this work cannot be carried out merely by 

 an examination of dried material. Examples of the species must be brought 

 together from every part of its area of distribution. Material of all kinds, 

 both dried and living, must be accumulated, and the latter cultivated 

 imder various conditions. Above all, actual field-knowledge is an essential. 

 Research of the above character could employ many investigators, while 

 specialization would be fundamental. For instance, a searching examination 

 of the little-known aggregate Veronica pinguifolia'f carried out on the above 

 lines would require several years' close study. In the case of certain trees 

 and shrubs, and also in that of herbs difficult to cultivate, the experimental 

 method might be too prolonged or almost impossible to apply, but, on the 

 other hand, there are dozens of species easy to cultivate and raise from seed. 

 Experimental taxonomy should become in course of time a most important 

 branch of botany. At present, however, it is hampered by the methods 

 of the university, where the garden plays so small a part and the laboratory 

 rules ; by the taxonomic traditions of the past ; by the lack of sympathy 

 between taxonomy and ecology, genetics, and horticulture ; and by the 

 length of time that must elapse before results can be published. 



* Problems of Genetics, Yale University Press, p. 250, 1913. 



t There is hardly a more -i variable " species in the flora, and yet no varieties have 

 as yet been described. But in gardens where veronicas are extensively cultivated there 

 are frequently several absolutely different plants which under the circumstances must 

 all be accorded the name V. -pinguifolia — a proceeding which does not increase the 

 gardener's respect for botany. Doubtless in their natural habitats these forms might 

 be connected by intermediate,?, but constantly raised from cuttings in the garden they 

 appear invariable. Cheeseman, e.g.. writing of V. Buchanani (Manual., p. 527), states, 

 "Larger forms approach V. pinguifolia so closely that it is difficult to draw a line of 

 demarcation between the two species. My var. major might be referred to either." 



