262 HELEN A. CHOATE 



the classification given above shows that in nearly two thirds of 

 the cases the names are words which were in some way associated 

 with the plant, and with the exception of the first group, practi- 

 cally every name is descriptive. 



Such a list would doubtless have had great influence on nomen- 

 clature, but the appearance in 1753 of the Species Plantarum, 

 in which every species received a trivial name, definitely deter- 

 mined the method of future nomenclature. It is interesting 

 to note that of the 844 trivial names used in the Pan Suecus 

 Linnaeus retained in the Species only 322, substituting for the 

 remaining 522 names others, selected however from the same 

 sources as in the Pan Suecus and representing his final improve- 

 ment of the system in detail. These trivial names were placed 

 in the margin opposite the specific names, as Linnaeus says in 

 the preface 6 "Trivialia nomina in margine apposui, ut missis 

 ambagibus, uno quamlibet Herbam nomine complecti queamus." 

 ("I have placed the trivial names at one side in the margin in 

 order that, freed from ambiguity we may be able to distinguish 

 any plant whatsoever by a single name"), and in his own diary 

 we find 7 "Nomina trivialia woro forut ohorde. Linnaeus inforde 

 dem ofverallt. Det war detsamme som att satta klapp i klocka. 

 Twa namn kunna latt minnas, latt namnas och skrifvas, langt 

 battre an som forut skedde, langa definitioner." ("Nomina 

 trivialia were before unheard of. Linnaeus introduced them 

 everywhere. It was like putting a clapper in a bell. Two names 

 are easy to remember, easy to pronounce and write, much better 

 than was done before — long definitions.") 



It must be noted hower that Linnaeus did not consistently 

 follow his own principles and some trivial names composed of 

 two words occur even in the Species Plantarum. The advantage 

 of this concise form of name was soon recognized and these trivial 

 names were adopted and are now universally used as specific 

 names, displacing the older descriptive phrases, which survive 

 however in the modern synoptical descriptions commonly called 

 diagnoses. Here then we have a binomial system, deliberately 



6 Linnaeus, C, Species Plantarum, Stockholm, Int, 1753. 



7 Quoted by Olsson-Seffer, Jour, of Botany, Sept. 1904. 



