CLOVE PINK TEIBE 129 



pretensions of Sir John Hill, though probably Jaequin, who conferred it, 

 might not so intend it. Linnaeus, in the book referred to, draws a fanciful 

 analogy between the names of several plants and the botanists after whom 

 they were designated. Thus, the genus BauJiinia was named after the two 

 distinguished brothers, John and Caspar Bauhin, and its two-lobed or twin 

 leaf seems an appropriate characteristic. Sehewhzeria, a grassy alpine plant, 

 Linnaeus says, commemorates the two Scheuchzers, one of whom excelled in 

 the knowledge of alpine productions, the other in that of grasses ; while 

 Magnolia and DiUeniu, the former with its noble leaves and flowers, and the 

 latter with its beautiful blossoms and fruit, serve to immortalise two admir- 

 able botanists. Hernandia, an American plant, one of the most beautiful 

 of all trees in its foliage, but having only inconspicuous blossoms, bears the 

 name of a botanist highly favoured by fortune, and to whom a large salary 

 was given for investigating the natural history of the western world, but 

 whose travels produced little result of any value. The remark made by the 

 great Swedish botanist on the name of the plant called by Gronovius after 

 himself, is somewhat touching, "The Linna'a," he says, "a depressed abject 

 Lapland plant, long overlooked, flowering at an early age, was named after 

 its prototype Linnaeus." 



Many of the names given by ancient botanists to commemorate distin- 

 guished persons, or in allusion to the uses to Avhich the plants were applied 

 by their fabulous deities, are yet retained. Such are Centaurea, from Chiron, 

 the Centaur ; Euphorbia, the name of the spurge genus, which immortalises 

 the physician of Juba, a Moorish prince ; Gentiana, which tells of Gentius, 

 King of Illyria, and has, as Gerarde would say, a "royal and princelie 

 authoritie ; " and Achillea, which connects our yarrow with the renowned 

 Greek warrior. Many excellent Greek and Latin names, which have been 

 given at different periods, indicate, like others of our simple English ones, 

 certain properties or striking peculiarities of the plant ; such as Amaranthus, 

 without decay, for an everlasting flower; Heliauthus, a sunflower; Litho- 

 spermuin, a stony seed, which is given to the gromwells, from their hard 

 nuts ; Origanuvi, the joy of the mountain, given because the marjoram thrives 

 on elevated spots ; or Arenaria, which is a plant of the sand. Of this latter 

 class are some of the best and most expressive names used by botanists. 

 Glaux maritima tells us at once that we may expect to find it on the sea-shore. 

 HoUonia palustris, the water violet, suggests in its name the marshy habitat ; 

 Setlum rupesfre would lead us to look for the stonecrop on the rock ; Convol- 

 vulus arvensis tells of the cultivated field ; and Foa pratenm is the grass of 

 the meadow. 



Order XV. LINE^— FLAX TRIBE. 



Sepals 4 — 5 overlapping while in bud, not falling of!'; petals equal in 

 number to the sepals, twisted before unfolding, and falling soon after expan- 

 sion ; stamens equal in number to the petals, and alternate with them, united 

 at the base into a ring, with small teeth between them ; ovary of about as 

 many cells as there are sepals, and as many styles ; capsule approaching a 

 globular form, tipped with the hardened base of the styles, each cell incom- 

 pletely separated by a partition extending from the l)ack inwards ; seeds one 



17 



