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fancy I hear some of our friends saying, " but you might use the 

 common and familiar names when known." Just so. So we Avould if 

 there was the least propriety or practical use in our so doing, but as 

 there is not, we adhere to the system which is laid down as the more 

 accurate and useful, and let others do as they please. 



No one, not even the " dry-as-dast" systematic botanist, is above 

 the sentiment and feeling for the old familiar names of childhood, nor 

 do they put aside as unpleasant, the reminiscences they recall to the 

 mind, but in practice, such sentiments and memories, have to be sub- 

 ordinate to considerations which induce the use of terms that more 

 accurately define the object which it is intended to indicate, and the 

 use of popular or familiar names is left to the poet, the lover or the 

 amateur plant cultivator, and others skilled in what is called the 

 " Language of Flowers" and these should really not insist on the 

 practical man devoting his time to the study of names which he well 

 knows lead to nothing but error and confusion. 



Even in the subject of the Forget-me-not, there is frequently 

 dispute as to the plant in the legend which received the name Forget' 

 me-not ; and when it is stated that there are several species of Myosotis 

 to Avhich it may be applied, each distinct from the other, and that the 

 name may be, and sometimes is, also applied to other genera than 

 Myosotis, the legendary name is seen at once to rest on an insecure 

 foundation. 



It is the same with all common or local names. They are applied 

 in different places to totally different things, and out of certain limits 

 quite incapable of general use. 



The "May-flower" of England is the blossom of the "White- 

 thorn" of the hedges. The "May-flower" of America is a low growing 

 plant creeping upon the ground and hidden xinder the snow, both 

 perfectly distinct one from the other, and therefore more accurate 

 names than " May-flower " have to be used to accurately denote them. 



The word "Gommier" is used in Trinidad to denote Bur sera 

 gummifera, a tree producing gum. In Grenada the same word is 

 applied to a tree known as Dacryodes hexandra, and similar examples 

 could be multiplied indefinitely. 



If, however, persons unskilled in botanical nomenclature choose 

 to use sentimental, local, familiar, or common names, by all means 

 let them do so, and enjoy the use of them to the full 1 But they 

 should really stop there, and not press the use of such names on 

 those who have better and more accurate ones at their disposal, not- 

 withstanding the fact that they are made up of English cut on Greek 



