110 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



the sn,i;\i^esti()n that the "personal advertisement," as C. G. 

 Lloyd so aptly expresses it, be omitted altogether. 



Common Names From Surnames. — In his recent Flora 

 of Glacier National Park, Dr. Paul C. Standley tells us, in his 

 note on Thlaspi arz'cnsc, that "in some parts of the North- 

 west the name 'Jim Hill weed,' is applied to the species, the 

 ranchmen having associated its ai)pearance with the building 

 of the Great Northern Railroad." This name had not pene- 

 trated to the Dakotas ami Minnesota when the writer last 

 botanized in those States, the favorite name -there being 

 "Frenchweed" or "fanweed", while the European name of 

 ''penny cress" seems never to have reached the West, But 

 the memory of the great empire-jjuilder, the most virile and 

 commanding figure in the development of the Northwest, has 

 also been kept alive by the appellation of "Jim Hill mustard" 

 bestowed upon the European "tumble mustard" {Sisymbriiini 

 altissiiiiii'ii!) which began t(j appear in the Mississippi X'alley 

 ab(»ut 1S90, evidently coming from the westward, and which 

 was at once associated in the public mintl with the building of 

 the new railroad and its great directing figure. Nothing could 

 more vividly express the strength of the impression which 

 James J. Hill left on his generation than this commemoration 

 of his name in the case of these two weeds. On what other 

 citizen of the republic has such a distinction been conferred? 

 T can think of no other name ihal represents any actual ])er- 

 sonage of modern times. Mythology and sacred history have 

 contributed to botanical nomenclature in sucli names as "Her- 

 cules' club," "Three-seeded mercury," X'eiuis' comb," "\'enus' 

 looking-glass," "St. Andrew's cross," "St. b'hn's wort," "St. 

 Peter's wort" — .and even our common parents have been re- 

 meml)ered in the names "Adam and Eve" and "Adam's 

 needle;" but while innumerable laymen as well as scientists 



