BOTANICON SINICUM. 109 
d'Incarville, whilst the small-leaved one figures in the herbaria of 
St. Petersburg as S. pubescens Turcz. But from Prof. Decaisne’s 
elaborate memoir on Ligustrum and Syringa I learn that S. villosa 
and JS. pubescens are the same plant (the small-leaved), and that 
the other species (S. villosa of Russian botanists) is 8. Emodi 
Wall., first observed in the Himalayas. Prof. Decaisne had of 
course seen authentic specimens of all these plants. 
The works on systematic botany by Willdenow, Sprengel, 
Roemer and Schultes and others, published previous to De Can- 
dolle’s Prodromus, have little value so far as they attempt to decide 
botanical questions relating to China. At least the identification 
and changing of names of Loureiro’s plants, as laid down by these 
authors, were certainly not based upon an inspection of Loureiro’s 
herbarium. 
Sufficient material for determining Chinese plants can only be 
found in the vast store houses of botanical collections in London, 
Paris, and St. Petersburg, which are especially rich in Eastern 
Asiatic plants. We also ought not to omit mentioning in this 
place the extensive herbarium of Dr. Hance in Whampoa, which 
as regards Chinese specimens may perhaps represent the most 
complete collection extant. Dr. Hance possesses also a great 
number of Indian, Japanese, and Siberian plants, and thus is 
well qualified to” pronounce a competent judgment on questions 
referring to Chinese plants. 
I need not say that the determination of plants requires great 
experience and attention. Even the most accomplished botanists 
are liable to err in their diagnoses. We must not forget that in 
the majority of cases (especially when they have to examine col- 
lections from distant countries) they rely entirely on dried ma- 
terials, and these too, often imperfect specimens which must be 
deciphersd like hieroglyphics of a dead language. Living plants 
show many characteristics, and very often striking ones, which 
cannot be recognized in dried specimens, or at any rate are liable 
to alteration, as, for instance, the colour of the flowers and other 
organs, their odour, etc. Probably many botanists who know a — 
foreign plant only from herbaria, would often fail to recognize the 
same at first sight, when met in a living state. eee oe 
