I860.] CHAPTERS ON BRITISH BOTANY. 199 



the work of years. Two or three centuries have passed since the 

 foundations of English botany were laid by Ray, Johnson, Ge- 

 rarde, and Turner, and this small portion of the entire science is 

 still incomplete. Therefore it would be unreasonable to expect 

 that Theophrastus accomplished the work of ages and centuries 

 within the compass of one brief life. 



There are some plants in the British Flora, of which the names 

 alone are Greek ; consequently, these have no genuine represen- 

 tatives in the sunny climes of the fair south-east. These are bo- 

 tanical shadows {nomi?iis umbrae), the empty sounds of reality 

 [voces et proEterea mini). But these must be noticed in order to 

 complete the literary history of the British species. 



Theophrastus is the earliest extant authority for botanical no- 

 menclature. Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Pliny, are the fa- 

 mous ancient botanical triumvirate ; and although we are unable, 

 in many cases, to affirm positively that our plants are the plants of 

 Greece, and those described by the father of botany, we have no 

 such difficulty about the names, which in the most anciently de- 

 scribed plants are indisputably of Grecian origin. It will also be 

 seen how closely, in our Anglo-Saxon or English vernacular, we 

 have followed the nomenclature of the Greeks. 



This will be exemplified in the common names Horse-mint, 

 Horse-radish, Dog-rose, etc., which are the verbal equivalents of 

 what we call ancient classical names, but which were not more 

 recondite nor far-fetched than are the terms fly-orchis, lizard- 

 orchis, and other national appellatives derived from our own 

 mother-tongue. 



The books consulted in the drawing up of this list are the fol- 

 lowing : — 



Historia Plantarum Theophrasti. 2 vols. Oxford. 1814. 

 Editor, J. Stackhouse, Arm. 



lUustrationes Theophrasti. Oxonii. Auctor J. Stackhouse. 

 1811. Privately printed. 



Billerbeck : Plora Classica. 8vo. 1824. 



Clusii, Car., Rariorum Plantarum Historia. Antw. 1601-6. 



The same author^s Historia rar. Plantarum observ. per Pan- 

 noniam, Austriam, etc. Antw. 1583. 



Columna, Fab. : Ecphrasis. Rome, 1616. Fab. Col. : Phyto- 

 basanus. Milan, 1744. 



Parkinson, John : Herbal. 1640. 



