70 HISTORY OF BOTA^-Y. 



parasitica of Jacquin, though perhaps not meant, is an 

 equally just one upon our pompous Sir John Hill." Then 

 he becomes severely Tirtuous, and exceeding fierce : — " I 

 mean not to approve of such satires. They stain the puiity 

 of our lovely Science. If a botanist does not deser^'e com- 

 memoration, let him sink peacefully into oblivion. It 

 savours of malignity to make his crown a crown of thorns, 

 and if the application be unjust it is truly diaboHcal." 



As to the naming of classes and orders there are no fixed 

 rules that have been attended to in the modern systepi, 

 though Canons 30 and 31 might weU apply; consequently 

 there is no absolute uniformity. Lindley, in his great 

 work ' The Vegetable Kingdom' (1846) adopts the uniform 

 system of selecting one plant as the type of an order and 

 adding accce to its name, but this plan has not been generally 

 followed, and, however we may desii'e uniformity, it is open 

 to some objection. If we apply the principles of Linnean 

 rule, Canon 23 would lead us to think that Lindley has not 

 improved upon the naming of Jussieu and others in many 

 cases. Thus Cruciferae (bearing cross-shaped flowers or 

 crucifers) would seem better than Brassicacese* (the Cabbage 

 family), because it exjpresses better the character of the 

 order. Compositas (compound flowers) is superior to 

 Asteracese (the Aster family); for in the case of common 

 gi-oundsel, and many other plants of the order, the ray which 

 gives the star-Kke appearance is usually wanting. In the 

 same way Leguminosse (pod-bearing plants) is preferable 

 to Fabacege (the Bean family), for though neither is perfect 

 (as some Legumiuosae bear drupes and not pods), the 

 Bean only represents one sub-order of this extensive tribe 

 (the Papilionacete, or butterfly-shaped flowers) out of three- 

 Again, for similar reasons, I prefer StellataB (star plants, in 

 reference to the whorls of leaves) to GaHaceae (Bedstraw 



■■'• Lindley lias Brassicaceae, Cmcifers, Asteracea^, Composites ! 



