28 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[^January, 



leaves nre formed. These considenUions, how- 1 iuid \vc should siiy your friend is wrong, 

 ever, were probably not part of the arginnent, | G. M.J 



-Ed. 



O^^ 



C^o 



x\ 



ITERATURE, ^IrAVELS & 0ERSONAL #OTES. 



c<^-i 



CO 31 MU NIC A TIONS. 



HORTENSIA OR HORTENSIS. 



The following note explains itself: 

 My Dear Mr. Meeh.\n-.— Some Aveeks ago, in 

 a hurried note, I called your attention to the fact 

 that you had inadvertently called the common 

 garden Hydrangea, H. hortensis, a very common 

 error, and one that I was sorry to see in the 

 Gardener's Monthly. Knowing it to be named 

 H. Hortensia in honor of some French Madame 

 Hortense, I wrote it "Queen Hortense," without 

 stopping to consult the authorties, as I should 

 have done had I supposed that the note would 

 be printed. I was wrong as to the particular 

 Hortense, but right as to the point I wished to 

 make— that Hortensia is the proper specific name 

 of the plant, and that Hortensis is wrong. 



The Rural New Yorker of Nov. 18th takes up 

 the matter, and thinks that your critic (meaning 

 the subscriber) "tumbles into a pit of his own 

 digging." I will take the measure of that pit 

 presently, but first let us hear our friend of the 

 " Rural," who, after giving in substance what I 

 said in my note, adds, "all of which Mr. Meehan 

 publishes with thanks to the critic, never so 

 much as hinting that Hortensis is from Hortus, a 

 garden ; hence the common name of the species, 

 notwithstanding the very Frenchy story about 

 Queen Hortense." In my note I returned the 

 remark, "But, then, we can't all be perfect" — 

 but at the time I did not think of the "Rural," 

 although I illustrated its truth in my own case 

 by mistaking one French dame for another. 

 "The Rural" reads us the law with much posi- 

 tiveness, and it may be worth while to see how 

 the authorities agree with him. If our friend 

 will refer to any French work on gardening, he 

 will find that the common name for the Hy- 

 drangea is Hortensia, and the same name is also 



in common use among the Germans. If he will 

 refer to any botanical work of acknowledged au- 

 thority, as De Candolle's for Europe, and Gray's 

 for America, he will lind the botanical name of 

 the plant given as Hydrangea Hortensia. The 

 reason for giving this name is told by several 

 authors, but the story is nowhere more concisely 

 related than in Loudon's Arboretum el Frniticetum, 

 vol. 2, p. 99G. As this account will no doubt 

 interest other readers, while it instructs the 

 "Rural," I will quote it. After giving the 

 names for the plant in Chinese and Japanese, 

 Loudon says : " In Europe it was named by the 

 celebrated Commerson, in honor of Madame 

 Hortense Lapantc, wife of his most particular 

 friend, M. Lapante, a watchmaker. Commerson 

 first named it Lapantm, but in order that the 

 compliment to Madame Lapante might be the 

 more direct, he changed the name to that of 

 Hortensia, from her Christian name, Hortense. 

 The plant was afterwards discovered to be a 

 species of Hydrangea, a genus previously estab- 

 lished by Gronovius ; but the name Hortensia 

 was retained as its specific appellation, and it is 

 still the common name by which the plant is 

 known in French gardens." 



I have no doubt that the " Rural " can find 

 some works in which the specific name of this 

 Hydrangea is given as H. hortensis, the writers 

 having, like some others, assumed, without in- 

 vestigation, that the name was from "Hortus, a 

 garden." 



Any rap over the knuckles that yon may feel 

 from the " Rural's" criticism, I regard with sat- 

 isfaction as retribution for publishing my private 

 scribblings. 



So far as I am concerned, it is only a case of 

 mistaken identity. If any of that family of La- 

 pante are now living, I owe them an apology 

 for confounding that Hortense with another 

 Hortense, who though a queen was not an alto- 

 gether lovely one. Lovers of flowers will be glad 



