EDITORIAL 



The controversy regarding the proper names to be 

 applied to our plants began some years before this magazine 

 was published, and although we were then assured that a 

 stable nomenclature would result in a short time, the pass- 

 ing years seem to have brought that desirable end no nearer. 

 As a matter of fact, we are rather worse off now than at the 

 beginning, for we now have two brands of nomenclature; 

 one, the "American Code", popular in two small areas along 

 the Atlantic coast, and the other, the Vienna Code, follow- 

 ed by the rest of the world. With two conflicting codes in 

 the field, there is naturally much confusion as to the proper 

 names plants should bear, and this confusion is made great- 

 er by the changes in well known names which a faithful 

 following of either code makes necessary. Juggling plant 

 names is a much less fatiguing pastime for the easy chair 

 botanist than hunting up new facts about the plants them- 

 selves, but name tinkering does not appeal to florists, nurs- 

 erymen, horticulturists, druggists, gardeners, and land- 

 scape artists who have real money invested in their 

 respective businesses and find themselves hampered by so 

 many different names for the same plant. As a last resort 

 they have issued an Official Code of their own which they 

 propose to follow in labelling, cataloguing, ordering, and 

 otherwise mentioning, cultivated plants. This third code 

 differs from the rest in being founded on common sense 

 instead of on a certain set of rules for playing the game. 

 The Joint Committee having the matter in charge have 



