APRIL. 123 



phrase ; and the attempt often misleads instead of assisting the ima- 

 gination. I am an old stager, Mr. Editor — old enough to remember 

 the first introduction of most of our present favourites, except the 

 Tulip, the Hyacinth, and others, the taste for which has been trans- 

 mitted through many generations — and I can assure you, that the 

 proper designation of plants has at all times been a perplexing puzzle 

 to botanists. The attempt to describe genera by appropriate names 

 was soon abandoned. Neither of the words Rhododendron or Azalea 

 have any peculiar fitness for the handsome families bearing those 

 names; and the remark is of almost universal application. The next 

 step was to name genera after their discoverers, or after some eminent 

 botanist — as Camellia from Kamel, Fuchsia from Fuchs, &c., — and 

 to attempt description by the specific name. The first Camellia (the 

 single red) was called Japonica, from the country from which it was 

 received; the double red was called Rubra; the double white Alba; 

 the double spotted Variegata; and the first Fiichsia coccinea — all 

 names very appropriate, but which have long ceased to be distinctive. 

 Designations derived from the colour of the flower being found in- 

 efiective, it was then tried to take them from some other part of the 

 plant. Thus Crinum erubescens was so called from its having a 

 purple-red stem^ though the flower is pure white ; and the terms 

 splendens and splencUda, applied to the leaves of plants, have, I dare 

 say, disappointed other amateurs besides myself The recommenda- 

 tion of names derived from persons is, that if they give no informa- 

 tion, they do not mislead; though, in the case mentioned by your 

 correspondent, it might have been as well if the christening had been 

 performed in proper clerical Latin (as nubile or maritum) instead of 

 the canine dialect. This is not a solitary instance of the ludicrous 

 effect sometimes produced by attempting to Latinise names. Escholt- 

 zia has puzzled a good many ; Michauxia still more ; and the familiar 

 Fuchsia bears no resemblance, in its pronunciation with us, to its 

 worthy parent, and ought rather to be called Foxia. 



While on the subject of names, permit me to make a digression, 

 which may amuse some of your readers. A highly respectable gen- 

 tleman of Manchester having to give evidence in a court of law, and 

 being asked his name by the judge, replied, " Ottiwell Wood." The 

 judge not hearing distinctly, requested him to spell it, which he did 

 as follows : " 0, double i, z, double w, e, double Z/, double w, double o, d" 

 Whereupon the judge laid down his pen in despair; and I think, Mr. 

 Editor, that " Treverbyn" and I might do the same, were we to attempt 

 the hopeless task of rectifying horticultural misnomers. Whatever 

 inconvenience results from them may be easily remedied (as has been 

 pointed out "by your correspondent " Mediterraneus") by descriptive 

 catalogues. They are now becoming general, and only want more 

 completely systematising to answer all practical purposes. Let plants 

 whose varieties are numerous and much sought after be first of all 

 classed under their leading colours — as red, white, purple, pink, yel- 

 low, &c., — in numerical order ; secondly, let each variety have a de- 

 scription attached to it of the shade of colour, size of flower, &c., mth 

 any other particulars of its character and habit ; and at the close of 



