PREFACE 



Plum svnouomy is a last-inatiug but a iiK»t imrioate study. 

 Every plant is supposed to have a ''correct" botanical name, and 

 -can have only one such. As a matter of fact there are fevr plants 

 that have not been over and over rechristened by scientific botanists, 

 each one maintaining that his is its only really ' 'correct' ' designa- 

 tion. Out of the endless confusion there is at last emerging order 

 4\nd uniformity. 



At the Botanical Congress held at Paris in 1867 the principle 

 -was definitely adopted that the scientific designation of a plant 

 should be in every case the name first applied to it (with suitable 

 definition and description 1. provided that name had not been pre- 

 A'iously applied to another plant. This rule has necessitated many 

 ■changes in the current nomenclature. The names adopted in this 

 book have been brought as far as possible into accordance with the 

 reformed nomenclature. In the case of our indigenous plants, the 

 names given by Britton and BroAvn in their recently published "Flora 

 of the Northern States and Canada, have been adopted with very 

 few exceptions as conforming to the new rules. The attempt has 

 been made to adhere to the principle also in the case of exotic 

 ^^ plants, but it has not been always possible to consult original au- 

 CJ> thorities. In a number of inst;mces where the new rule requires 

 <"hanges in name which have undoubtedly been already made by 

 botanists, but for which authority could not be found, my own name 

 appears as authority, indicating that the responsibility is mine. 

 J It has been my endeavor to make the list of popular synonyms 



1 as complete and at the same time as authentic as possible. It has 

 not been difficult to gather popular names of the plants of Europe, 

 particularly of Great Britain. In our own country popular names 

 are used in a very haphazard manner, and there has never been any 

 attempt to gather all the names adopted in different localities. 

 From the most reliable sources of information at ray command I 

 have gleaned a large number of the current popular names. 



