BOTANICAL NAMKS. . 73 



swallow ( appearing in flower at about the time the swallow 

 comes in Spring) ; Clienopodium, goose foot ; Leontodon , lion's 

 tooth, the Greek form for our Fall dandelion ; Da?idelion, 

 through the French dent de lion and that from Latin dens 

 Iconis making dandclioi a very appropriate name for Leon- 

 iodon, but unfortunately our common dandelion is a Taraxa- 

 cu))i, one of the old classical names, and not Lcoufodon . 

 Other animal names are (ioan/utn , crane; Erodinni, heron ; 

 Pelarf(oniu)u , stork; nracocepJtalum , dragon's head ; Jilephani- 

 opiis, elephant's foot. A long list of such names might be 

 given . 



Number furnishes a large list, principally however of spe- 

 cific names, although for generic names Pcnthorum and Myrio- 

 phyllum may be cited, Penthoruni from the Greek penfe, five, 

 ^.ndonis, order; Myriophvllnni from niyrios, a myriad or ten 

 thousand, and p/iy/los, leaf. A number of names are mytho- 

 logical, as Achillea, Adonis, Ajacis, Arclieuiorns, Arcthnsa, 

 Asiiepias, Arle/nisia , Alropa, Cillirhoe, etc. Some are named 

 for their properties, real or supposed, such as Alcea, strength ; 

 Althea, to cure; Alvssuni, opposed to madness; Ai'ocnionc , 

 curing argema, a disease of the eye. 



The great majority of names are, however, fortunately 

 more or less descriptive. Such names are Raphanns, quickly 

 appearing, applied appropriately to our radish ; Hclianthus 

 and HeliantJicmum , sunflower; Heliopsis, like the sun ; Heli- 

 otrope, turning to the sun ; Are)iaria, growing in sand ; Cle- 

 matis, a vine: Anipelopsis, like a vine; MenispoDiiini , moon- 

 seed; Sa)ioi/i)taria , pertaining to blood; Canielina, dwarf 

 flax, etc. 



The way different roots are combined to form a laroe 

 number of words may be illustrated by several combinations 

 with the Greek A'allos, beautiful, such as Callitriche , beautiful 

 hair; Callisteinon , beautiful stamens; Callistephus , beautiful 

 stems; Callicarpe, beautiful fruit, and (^"(////(■■//(vY/^s-, beautiful 

 herb. 



The specific names are nearly all adjectives, which as in 



