THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 5 



of many who later in the season pass even more showy flowers 

 without a thought. The hepaticas, however, have failed to 

 receive a name by which they are generally known. Liver- 

 wort, one of the oldest, is seldom used, possibly because there 

 is a group of flowerless plants, near ralatives of the mosses, 

 that bear the name. Wood attempts, to distinguish between 

 the two by calling our plant noble liverwort. Livermoss is 

 clearly a misapplication of names. Three-leaved liverwort, 

 golden trefoil, heart-leaved liverwort, ivy flower, liver leaf, 

 and herb Trinity are all allusions to the three-lobed leaves. 

 Apparently any plant with three-lobed leaves may to be con- 

 nected with the Trinity. The case of the oxalis and sham- 

 rock are illustrations. The name of spring beauty seems by 

 common consent to belong to Claytonia Virginica and its allies, 

 but it is very frequently applied to our plant by the unbotani- 

 cal. The poetic appellation, squirrel cups, was suggested by 

 John Burroughs, but it does not seem to have been taken up 

 by any but the book-makers. Like many another early flow- 

 er, our plant is also called Mayflower. Crystal wort is the 

 only name for this plant that fails of an explanation. 



The species of Anemone and Anemonella are called wind- 

 flowers apparently for no better reason than that the generic 

 name is said to have reference to the wind. If it should turn 

 out that Gray's definition of the generic name is the correct 

 one, the wind will have been very effectually taken out of 

 their sails. The rue anemone is so called because its leaves 

 suggest those of the rue {Riita graveolens.) With other species 

 it shares the name of Mayflower. The species of Anemone 

 most frequently called windflower is doubtless A. nemorosa, 

 or, as the recent Manuals have it, A. quinquefolia. This 

 species, or one almost like it, is common in Europe and is 

 regarded as the true A. nemorosa. Since wood anemone is 

 merely a translation of the specific name, it would be logical 

 for us now to abandon the term since the specific name for 

 our plant has been changed, but we seem quite disinclined to 



