NOMENCLATURE. 351 



dendron Tulipifera, Rhus Toxicodendron, Dictamnus Fraxinella. 

 These proper specific names take a capital initial letter. 1 Rarely 

 such a name is in the genitive ; as Heterotheca Chrysopsidts, mean- 

 ing a species of Heterotheca with the aspect of a Chrysopsis. 



713. Specific names should be of a single word. Some few 

 are compounded, as purpureo-caeruleum ; and some of ancient 

 origin (once quasi-generic) are of two words. Ex. Panicum 

 Crusgalli, Capsella Bursapastoris, Taraxacum Dens leonis. 



714. A specific name cannot stand alone. It is nothing 

 except as connected with the genus to which it pertains. A 

 Japonica by itself is wholly meaningless. A plant is named by 

 the mention of its generic appellation followed by the specific. 



715. Names of Varieties. These are in all particulars like 

 specific names. Many are specific names reduced to a lo wet- 

 rank. The varietal name is written after the specific, thus : 

 Ranunculus Flammula, var. reptans, and R. aquatilis, var. tricho- 

 phyllus. Varieties of low grade need not be named. They ma,y 

 be designated by numbers, or by the small letters of the Greek 

 alphabet, a, (3, &c. When the varieties are marked and j3, 

 the first is supposed to be the type of the species, or both to 

 be equally included in the common character. But when the 

 is not used, the varieties rank as deviations from the assumed 

 type of the species. Varieties of cultivation, half-breeds or 

 cross-breeds, and the like, should have onty vernacular names, 

 at least not Latin ones such as may be confounded with true 

 botanical names. 



716. Names of Hybrids are difficult to settle upon any com- 

 plete system. When of unknown or uncertain parentage, they 

 have been named in the manner of species, but distinguished by 

 the sign X prefixed. Ex. X Sol-ix capreola. Hybrids of known 

 parentage are named by combining the names of the two pa- 

 rents, thus : S. purpureo X dctphnoides, or X S. purpureo-daph- 

 noides, for a cross between S. purpurea and S. daphnoides, of 

 which the first supplied the pollen to fertilize the second. The 

 counterpart hybrid is X & daphnoideo-purpurea. 



1 In respect to the initial of geographical specific names, being adjec- 

 tives, such as Americana, Canadensis, Virginiana, Europcea, Anglica, usage 

 governs, and this is divided. But the elder DeCandolle, who ruled in all 

 such matters in the preceding generation, always employed the capital in- 

 itial, and two generations of DeCandolle follow the example. Most English 

 authors until recently and some continental ones adopt this usage ; and it 

 accords with the genius of the English language, in which we always write 

 European, British, American, &c., with a capital initial. Of late it is a usual 

 practice to write such geographical specific names with a small initial 



