INTRODUCTION 47 



has been given in the Introductory volume. For 

 further information the reader is referred to Prof. 

 Green's * History of Botany ' (Oxford University 

 Press), and to * Makers of British Botany,' Mrs. 

 Arber's book on herbals, and other v^^orks. An 

 admirable brochure is the ' History of Plant Classifi- 

 cation,' or guide to the books and portraits in the 

 Botanical Department of the British Museum 

 (Natural History) that illustrate this subject by 

 Dr. A. B. Rendle. Thes^ volumes and portraits are 

 well v^orthy of a visit of inspection and study. 



In the study of systematic botany, which is the 

 same thing as classification or taxonomy, there must 

 be necessarily some system of nomenclature and of 

 description, in order that any arrangement of plants, 

 which is the final end of taxonomy, may be rendered 

 possible. 



At first there was no such distinction between the 

 scientific names of plants and the descriptions in 

 Latin, and in Ray's time (seventeenth century) the 

 plant was distinguished by a Latin sentence of 

 several words. Gradually this was reduced to two 

 words, as at present, by Linnaeus, who invented, or 

 rather brought into general use, the binomial system, 

 as it is called. 



The first Latin name stands for the genus, which 

 is common to several species signified by the second 

 Latin name. The unit of classification is thus the 

 species. 



Species is a term which denotes the group of 



