VI 



TAXODINE^ AND ARAUCARINE^ 



(Of the natural order CONIFERS, of the 

 FAMILY PINACE^, OF THE tribe TAXODINEiE) 



Any man that walks the mead. 

 In bud or blade or bloom may find 

 A meaning suited to his mind. 



Tennyson. 



This is a small group of coniferous trees of very- 

 different appearances, of little outward and visible 

 resemblance often one to another, for the most part 

 of seemingly rather far-fetched affinity, and they 

 rejoice in the one tribal name of Taxodineae. 



There must have been, we think, something just 

 a little inconsiderate in the nature, and something 

 just a little stubborn in the attitude, of the advisory 

 committee of our botanical experts, in their methods 

 of prescribing lasting names of the tribes, orders, and 

 species of that day, when they singled out for this 

 omne gatherum group a name which vibrates in such 

 a propinquity of sound to that of the Taxacean 

 family. 



When we reflect that, on account of a certain ap- 

 proximation of appearance, this name must have 

 been given to them, yet at the same time, on account 

 of a certain ascertained non-approximation of some 

 botanical characteristics, they were denied admittance 

 to the honourable company of the Taxacean family, 

 we plead guilty to a sense of mystification. We 



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