126 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



Aquila, the eagle, in allusion to the spurs which suggest the 

 talons of a bird of prey. Aconitiim is reported to be derived 

 from the Greek Akoniton. meaning without dust, because the 

 plants grow in rocky places, while Hydrastis is assumed to 

 come from the Greek word for water, though the translation 

 does not go unchallenged. 



The other genera of the Ranunculaceae are somewhat 

 more easily interpreted. Actaea is the ancient name for the 

 elder whose leaves the plants of this genus are said to resem- 

 ble. Cimicifuga is from the Latin cimcx, a bug, and fugare 

 to drive away, accounting for the common name of bugbane. 

 Zanthorhiza is the descriptive Greek for yellow root, and 

 Nigella is the diminutive of nigcr, meaning black. Coptis 

 means to cut, in allusion to the divided leaves. CaliJta, ac- 

 cording to Wood, is from the Greek for goblet, the flowers 

 being like golden cups. Gray says it was the ancient Latin 

 name for the common marigold which, however, does not 

 necessarily invalidate the original derivation. Myosurus is, 

 in Latin as it is in English, mousetail, being so called because 

 the carpels are attached to a long slender axis. Troutvetteria 

 is named for E. R. von Trautvetter. Gray says "an able Rus- 

 sian botanist" but Wood says "German" and the name looks 

 it. Hepatica refers to the liver in the original Greek because 

 of its leaves which are supposed to be shaped like the liver, 

 and Brant his, or the winter aconite, means spring flower. 

 Isopyrum is the ancient name for some species of fumitory. 



The number of vernacular names bestowed upon a given 

 species depends in part upon its abundance, in part upon its 

 conspicuousness, and in part upon its usefulness. Some may 

 have as many as twenty common names and others lack a sin- 

 gle one. It is interesting to note that the best known common 

 names are nearly always generic ; that is, they are applied to 

 a number of species, instead of one, with, or without, (juali- 

 fying adjectives. This is the case with Rammculus where 

 buttcrcu[) and crowfoot are common designations even when 



