40 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



alphabetically arranged, in which technical names, vernacular 

 names, and synonyms are indicated by distinct faces of type. 

 The fact that the societies concerned, which include practical- 

 ly all American dealers in plants, have agreed to use the 

 names listed for at least five years, makes this one of the 

 most important books relating to plants ever issued. Those 

 immediately in charge of the work are Frederick Law Olm- 

 sted, Frederick V. Coville and Harlan P. Kelsey, but in com- 

 piling the list they have had the advice and assistance of 

 more than fifty specialists, and the work has proceeded with- 

 out reference to the various "codes" so dear to the heart of 

 the technical botanist. In general the effort has been to 

 select the names by which the plants have been most widely 

 known in the trade and thus the dealer finds his customary 

 usage backed by authority. The undertaking is one that has 

 long been suggested by intelligent plantsmen and a similar 

 course might be taken with reference to plants in general 

 with good results; indeed, the various lists of nornina con- 

 servanda adopted by the code-makers are recognitions of this 

 principle. Though the technical names in the new list are 

 likely to be widely used, it may be doubted whether various 

 other proposals made in the book will meet with as ready 

 acceptance, especially those not in harmony with current 

 English use, such as the telescoping of adjectives with the 

 nouns they qualify to make "common names" and the omis- 

 sion of the apostrophe in such names as Henry's St. John's- 

 wort. It is difficult to see how crepemyrtle, possumhaw, 

 wildbergamot and pinkscalegayfeather are any improvement 

 over the usual way of writing them. To be sure the last 

 mentioned name is cut in two in the middle but3 by the rules 

 of the game it should not be. Nor can we see how Welsh- 

 poppy is less entitled to a hyphen than Chinese-poppy. In 



