OF GltEEK OR LATIN NAMES. 289 



Excellent ^reek or Latin names are such as indicate 

 ■some striking peculiarity in the genus : as Glycyrrhiza, 

 a sweet root, for the Liquorice ; Amaranthiis, without 

 decay, for an everlasting flower : Helianthus^ a sunflow- 

 er ; Lithospermum^ a stony seed ; Eriocalia^, a flower 

 with a singularly woolly base or cup ; Origanum^ an 

 ornamental mountain plant ; Hemerocallis^ a beauty of a 

 day ; Aretiaria, a plant that inhabits sandy places ; and 

 Gypsophila^ one that loves a chalky soil. Such as mark 

 the botanical character of the genus, when they can be 

 obtained for a nondescript plant, are peculiarly desira^ 

 ble : as Ceratopetalwji, from the branched hornlike pc 

 tals ; Lasiopetalum^ from the very singular woolly coroi • 

 la ; Calceolaria^ from the shoe-like figure of the same 

 part ; Conchium, from the exact resemblance of its fruit 

 to a bivalve shell. 



In all ages it has been customary to dedicate certain 

 plants to the honour of distinguished persons. Thus 

 Euphorbia commemorates the physician of Juba a Moor 

 ish princcj and Ge?itiana immortalizes a king cf Illyria 

 The scientific botanists of modern times have adopted 

 the same mode of preserving the memory of benefactors 

 to their science ; and though the honour may have been 

 sometimes extended too far, that is no argument for its 

 total abrogation. Some uncouth names thus unavoida- 

 bly deform our botanical books ; but this is often effa- 



* When I named this genus in Exotic Botany, I was no" 

 aware of its having previously been published by M. Billardiere 

 under the name of Actinotus ; a name however not tenable in 

 Botany, because it has long beeii pr^^sQupied in ]Mineral®£y, 



NiV 



