172 LINNjEAN ARTIFICIAL SYSTEM. 



have two Latin words for their name ; the first word is 

 said to be its generic term, and the second its specific 

 name. 



Thus the term primula or primrose is the name of a genus or 

 family of plants agreeing in certain characters, and the individual 

 plants which compose this family, bear the generical term primula 

 first, and a specific term afterwards, expressive of their individuality, 

 so that the common species of our hedges is systematically called the 

 primula vulgaris ; the cowslip another species, primula certs ; and 

 the auricula of our gardens, a foreign species of the same genus, 

 is denominated primula auricula. By this simple principle in 

 naming of plants, we know that the cowslip, auricula and primrose, 

 are all of the same genus. In the same way every plant is to be 

 known by their technical appellations. 



