HONOUR OF BOTANISTS. 291 



sovereign could derive no glory from the Georgia'^ of 

 Ehrhart ; but the Strelitzia of Alton stands on the sure 

 basis of botanical knowledge and zeal, to which I can 

 bear ample and very disinterested testimony. 



Linnaeus, in his entertaining book Critica Botmiica, 

 p. 79, has in several instances drawn a fiinciful analogy 

 between botanists and their appropriate plants, thus — 



Bauhinia, after the two distinguished brothers John 

 and Caspar Bauhin, has a twolobed or twin leaf. 



Scheuchzeria, a grassy alpine plant, commemorates 

 the two Scheuchzers, one of whom excelled in the 

 knowledge of alpine productions, the other in tliat of 

 grasses. 



Dorstenia, with its obsolete flowers devoid of all beau- 

 ty, alludes to the antiquated and uncouth book of Dors= 

 tenius. 



Hernandia, an American plant, the most beautiful of 

 all trees in its foliage, but furnished with trifling blos- 

 soms, bears the name of a botanist highly favoured by 

 fortune, and allowed an ample salary for the purpose of 

 investigating the natural history of the Western world, 

 but whose labours have not answered the expense. On 

 the contrary 



Magnolia with its noble leaves and flowers, and 



DiUenia with its beautiful blossoms and fruit, serve 

 lo immortalize two of the most meritorious among bot- 

 anists. 



Linn^ea, " a depressed, abject, Lapland plant, long 

 overlooked, flowering at an early age, was named by 

 Gronovius after its prototype Linnasus." 



* T->raiihis of Hechvig and Eri^l. Bu. t. 1020. 



