'Nomenclature 



phytohormone may ease the way for the word phytamin. The 

 latter term has been tentatively accepted by Loehwing (1937) 

 and has been substantively used in its French form phytatnine 

 (f.) by some Italian and French authors. 



The definition of a hormone given by Went and Thimann 

 excludes drugs, and is sound from a physiological point of 

 view. It is to be hoped that other physiologists working with 

 phytohormones or interested in the effect of synthetic drugs 

 will call upon their physiological training so as to discriminate 

 between what is a hormone and what is not. 



The physiologists present at the First Phytohormone 

 Conference, held in Paris in October 1937 under the chair- 

 manship of Professor Boysen Jensen, apparently viewed the 

 matter in a similar light. For their preliminary classification, 

 see Chronica Botanica (1938), 4, 48. 



Lefevre (1939) has recorded the concentrations of 3-indolyl- 

 acetic acid in fresh leaves and roots of various normal and 

 pathological plants. If the natural occurrence of this substance 

 in plants is accepted, it may be a true hormone. 



Group Nomenclature for Plant Growth- substances 



In 1934 the author suggested the name "phytamin" as a 

 generic term for the accessory food factors of plants (vitamins- 

 for-plants), for which numerous names and adjectives have 

 been proposed (auxins, plant hormones, growth-regulating 

 and growth-promoting substances, etc.). The name phytamin 

 was intended to cover the sense of Bottomley's (191 5-1 7, C) 

 "auximone", of which Bottomley wrote: "This term may 

 usefully serve as a general descriptive name for these organic 

 plant growth-promoting substances until our knowledge of 

 their true nature and composition is sufficiently extended to 

 warrant the application of a more satisfactory name." The 

 author proposed the term "phytamin" in substitution of 

 "auximone", because Bottomley's work was generally dis- 

 credited as a result of the exaggerated claims made for his 

 commercial preparation, "bacterized peat". 



Bottomley may have been led too far in his inferences, but 

 it can now be suggested that his laboratory demonstrations 



95 



