I 



BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 61 



Agave Vii'ffimca, L. False aloe. This plaut I have only obtained from the top ot 

 a sandstone hill near Mine La Motte, Madison count}-. 



Yucca an(/iistifoU(i. Common only on bare "Blutl""' hills of Alchison and Holt. 

 Have found it no where else in Missouri. About B feet high and (luile handsome. Is 

 common further west. 



Phragiaites communis Trin. A reed 5 to 12 feet high, not common but where 

 growing we find dense thickets. Found in marshy ground in JS'odawaj-, Macon, La- 

 fayette, Saline and Bates. The musk rats use it in the construclion of their huts. 



PoHtederin cordata, L. This I have onlj' found on jionds in Jasper county. 



The chief timbered region of Missouri lies east of a line drawn from the northeast 

 to the southwest corner of the State, although there are some large i)rairies cast of this 

 and some extensive tracts of woodland on the west. 



[In determining genera and species I am under many obligations for assistance to 

 Dr. Geo. Eugelmann of St. Louis.] 



HoNOiiARY Names in Scikxtipmc Nomenclature. — Editohs Gazette — A few 

 weeks ago an article appeared in a widely circulated California Journal criticising my 

 action in naming a new flower — (Ji/i'a Fdrryo' — "to honor a noble lad}-, who has done . 

 eminent service for botany," Mrs. Dr. C. C. Parry, late ot California, now returned to 

 Davenport, Iowa * 



As the criticism was couched in respectful hmguage, and, moreover, as it contains 

 a protest quite often heard, to the use of honorary names in science, I propose to dis- 

 cuss the subject a little and explain the propriety of admitting a few such names to the 

 records of science in accordance with the practice of the nuisters in each, to the annoy- 

 ance, it appears, of a few persons, who have evidently not given the subject much 

 thought. 



The plea for descriptive names is an old one, and many a scientist lias kept strictlj- 

 to the practice of giving them only, and by this very method has introduced confusion 

 of the worst character into our nomenclature. 



Let us look tirst to the origin of science and of scientific names. "Science is 

 knowledge systematically arranged, so as to lie conveniently taught, easily learned and 

 readily applied." Art is this knowledge applied to use Coming down the steps of 

 time, a master-mind arises one after another, seizes the materials at hand, arranges, 

 names, publishes his book and departs, leaving his impress upon tlie science more or 

 less indelible, according to the strength of his mind or the admiration of his followers. 

 When all the known objects of a particular science or branch of a science are thus col- 

 lected and compared, no difliculty is found in distinguishing each tVoni each, and very 

 appropriate names are generally given them. xVs research continues, however, and 

 more genera and species are added, many of the established names arc found no longer 

 distinctive, others are vastly more applicable to the new forms, etc. 



Again, descriptive names sometimes i)rove indcHiiiic allcrward, because of the 

 accumulation of material, showing that the first name was given to an aberrant form. 

 or variety, totally diflerent from the typical plant or animal. 



Still again, the early scientists, working with inferior or no instruments, made con 

 tinual errors, both of oliservation and interpretation, hence ihcir names are now mainly 

 inappropriate or misleading. With every re-organization of a science, there comes an 

 attempt to correct these manifold errors, followed in turn liy confusion and contest, 

 measured by the amount of re-naming done and the weigiit of the new authority. We 

 can never hope to have our scientific names crystallized into a nomenclature as per- 

 manent as the conglomerate' rock until research has revealed every form of i)lanl that 

 gi-ows, and every kind of animal thai lives on the earth. 



