314 CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION 
define them in a convenient way, and add others so far as 
necessary. The publication of this carefully prepared vo- 
cabulary gave the necessary material for making botanical 
description henceforward an art, while in his systematic 
writings Linnzeus left examples of the art, well calculated to’ 
serve as models of excellence. In describing a plant his ideal 
was to state all that was necessary and nothing that was 
unnecessary to distinguish it from all other plants. 
Since the time of Linnzus, botanical terminology has 
been enriched and improved in various ways to meet the 
needs which have arisen with wider knowledge; but the art 
of describing plants still remains very largely what its first 
great master made it. Pictures are no longer deemed neces- 
sary to make up for vagueness of description; when it is 
possible to use them, their scientific value is much increased 
because what they lack may be supplied in words, and the 
significance of what is represented can be made plain. In- 
deed, to one familiar with the terms used, a complete bo- 
tanical description calls up so clear a mental picture of each 
part described, that a drawing sufficiently accurate for recog- 
nition might often be made even though no specimen of the 
plant had ever been seen. Surely this is a triumph such as 
ordinary language has never attained. . 
90. Terminology and nomenclature. Persons who have 
only a superficial acquaintance with botany are apt to think 
of it merely as a study of names, which hinder rather than 
help one in learning whatever botanists may know of general 
interest about plants. Doubtless the student of the fore- 
going chapters already feels that this is far from true; yet 
this false opinion conceals a truth which it will be worth 
while for us to consider. 
Special names and descriptive expressions of various sorts 
do occupy a prominent place in the scientific study of plants, 
and these botanical technicalities doubtless present a more 
formidable appearance than the special terms of most other 
sciences. Yet, paradoxical as it may seem, the very fact 
that botanists use these means of expressing themselves, 
makes it much easier for a beginner to arrive at an under- 
standing of what they have to say, and so to a knowledge of 
