INTRODUCTION. 19 



Finally, the user of names has the right to expect them to be as uniform and simple as 

 possible. Initial h should never be lost, as frequently occurs in Haplopappus, Heleocharis, 

 etc., and in the case of permissible alternatives, as in the genitive, the simpler form is 

 always preferred, e. g., nuttalli, parishi, etc. 



A binomial system of common names. — The realization of the fact that the vast majority 

 of people make their contacts with plants only through the common names seems to 

 render a more adequate system imperative. Most of the so-called common names of 

 the manuals are not vernacular names at all, but mere translations of the technical name. 

 They possess no currency, and lack the qualities to secure it. A few of the actual ver- 

 nacular names are excellent, but most of them are either local, misapplied, or entirely 

 without significance. When significant common names are in general use, they should 

 be worked into a comprehensive system wherever possible. The most serious failures 

 of vernacular names are in failing to show relationship and to make specific distinctions. 

 In endeavoring to secure these values, it quickly became evident that the binomial was 

 as indispensable for common names as for technical ones. In constructing a binomial 

 system, the current name for the genus or one of its most important species was taken as 

 the basis, and the specific term was used in a compound or as a modifier. The one case 

 is illustrated by Atriplex, in which the generic term, scale, was derived from shadscale, 

 the current name for A. confertifolia, and similar names made for the other important 

 species, e. g., wingscale for A. canescens, lenscale for A. lentiformis, allscale for A. poly- 

 carpa, etc. The other is exemplified by Artemisia, in which the current name for the 

 genus, sagebrush, is modified by a specific epithet in the case of all the shrubby species 

 but A. tridentata, e. g., hoary sagebrush for A. cana, sand sagebrush for A. filifolia, 

 coast sagebrush for A. calif ornica, etc. The term sagewort is applied to the herbaceous 

 species in a similar manner, e. g., dragon sagewort for A. dracunculus, field sagewort 

 for A. campestris, etc. 



METHODS AND RESULTS IN EVOLUTIONARY TAXONOMY. 



Methods. — The conviction has been repeatedly expressed that taxonomy to be phylo- 

 genetic and permanent must be based upon the field as the primary seat of investigation. 

 It is conceivable that hundreds of individuals representing the whole range of variation 

 and adaptation might be specially collected and made use of in the herbarium, but this 

 is beyond the bounds of practicability. This does not mean that the actual measure- 

 ments involved in statistical studies will not be made indoors, but the specific analysis 

 that precedes this is preeminently a field process. The field here is conceived in no narrow 

 sense, but it includes greenhouse, garden, field inclosure, and in fact all habitats, natural 

 or artificial, in which the evolutionary behavior of living plants can be studied. The 

 complete field method demands a knowledge of the variation of the species concerned 

 throughout its climatic area and of its adaptation as it enters diverse habitats adjacent 

 to the normal one. It further requires statistical studies of the species and its variads 

 in the whole range of natural conditions, and experimental analysis in controlled natural 

 habitats as well as in garden and greenhouse. It is obviously a method that demands 

 much and yields much in return. It needs field laboratories and transplant stations, 

 and is impossible of use in collecting trips and reconnoissance. As a consequence, it is 

 little adapted to the preliminary organization of the flora of new or httle-known countries, 

 but it is indispensable in testing and refining such results to the point where they 

 accurately represent the facts of evolution and relationship. 



Statistics. — The statistical study of the degree of modification, as shown by the indivi- 

 duals of a species or a variad, yields results of the most fundamental importance, an 

 importance surpassed only by those obtained from experiment. The first of these is a 

 far more exact expression of the stage of evolution attained collectively than the most 



