PLANT NAMES AND THEIR MEANINGS-TV. 



ROSACEAE.— II. 

 By W1L1.ARD N. Clute. 



Some botanists incline to separate from the Rosaceae 

 those species with plum-like, and apple like, fruits. When 

 this is done, the latter group is often called Pomaceae from 

 the Latin word for apple and the first group Drupaceae also 

 from the Latin meaning an over-ripe olive. Modern termin- 

 ology, however, inclines to the use of Malaceae for the apples 

 and Amygdalaceae for the drupes or stone fruits. The latter 

 term comes from the Greek for the almond tree. 



The Rosaceae present many illustrations of the fact that 

 in order to have a number of vernacular names a plant should 

 be neither too well nor too little known. The peach, for in- 

 stance, appears to have no common names except the one by 

 which it is universally known. On the other hand, many spe- 

 cies in such genera as Crataegus, Rubus, Rosa, and Primus 

 have no common names of their own and bear simply the ver- 

 nacular appellations of the genera to which they belong with 

 perhaps, some qualifying adjective descriptive of their haunts, 

 color, size, or time of blooming. This is especially true of the 

 genus Crataegus where the multiplication of species has gone 

 so far that the common people cannot be expected to distin- 

 guish the separate forms. The thorns and fruits of Cratae- 

 gus are so characteristic that allusion to one or the other is 

 found in nearly every vernacular name. As a popular name 

 for the entire groui), "hawthorn" vies with "thornapple." The 

 second term needs no explanation but it may be a surprise to 

 many to leani that "liaw" is a very ancient term for hedge, so 

 that our plants are the tlKuns that grow in hedges or rather on 

 the edges of fields and gardens. We still speak of "edgings." 



