OUTLINE OF STRUCTURAL BOTANY 43 
The single cotyledon of the monocotyledonous class does not 
usually rise above the soil as do those of the other great class, but 
remains hidden where the moisture of the soil can aid it in its 
nourishment of the new plant. At Fig. 70 is shown the young 
plant of maize, the shell and cotyledon remaining near the branch- 
ing and descending radicle. 
In the seed of the pines there are several cotyledons, and they 
rise in a little spindle-shaped structure formed of a number of 
symmetrically curved ribs, lifting the shell of the seed at their 
summit like a little cap, as we see it at Fig. 71. At length the 
cap is thrown off and from the midst of the group of cotyledon 
rays arises whorl after whorl of needle-like leaves. 
THE NAMES OF PLANTS 
To the amateur the names of plants are a source of difficulty 
and often of perplexity. The common name of an individual plant 
usually differs not only in words, but in meaning, so far as it has 
a meaning, in different languages. Even in the same language 
there are often many names for the same plant in different local- 
ities and the same name is often applied to plants widely different 
in character and appearance. 
Hence, for an English-speaking person to know the common 
names of the plants growing in his or her vicinity might be of 
little advantage, since in another locality these common names 
might be differently applied or other names might be used for the 
same species. 
This unfortunate state of confusion existed when Linnaeus, the 
great systematizer, not only of botany, but of other branches of 
natural science, adopted a system of giving to each plant two 
names which, in some sense, compare with the names which we 
apply among ourselves; for example, we say, James Monroe; Mon- 
roe referring to a group of persons and James to an individual. 
In plant naming we use the two names much in the same way; 
thus, we say: Viola tricolor: Viola being the name of a group 
which is called a Genus, while the qualifying or specific name tri- 
color refers to the three colors found in the flower of this species 
and is its specific name. 
A rule which is now almost universally accepted requires that 
the Genus or the Species shall bear the name given it by the person 
first describing the Genus or Species. Thus, although many species 
of violets were known before Linnaeus, he first applied the name in 
