20 STUDIES IN GARDENING 



and others seem to be going. There is, for instance, 

 a growing tendency to call perennial Larkspurs Delphi- 

 niums; and the name Columbine, beautiful alike in 

 sound and sense, and one that can be used without 

 any fear of ambiguity, is giving way to Aquilegia. 

 Most people now say Sedum instead of Stonecrop, 

 even in the case of the species to which the English 

 name can be given with perfect propriety, and many 

 call Snapdragons Antirrhinums. Often, of course, a 

 particular species can be indicated only by the bo- 

 tanical name; but that is no reason for using the 

 botanical name where the English name can be used 

 without fear of error. If one wished, for instance, to 

 speak of Antirrhinum asarina, one would have to 

 call it by that name; but Snapdragon will serve for 

 Antirrhinum ma jus, indeed, it is a more exact term 

 than the generic name of Antirrhinum. 



The rage for Latin names has gone so far that you 

 will now sometimes see Lilies called Liliums by people 

 who write about them in the gardening papers. Their 

 defence, no doubt, would be that some plants which 

 do not belong to the lily genus are also called lilies; 

 but since we have Primrose and the Rose of Sharon, 

 this would be a reason for calling Roses Rosas; and 

 it is to be hoped that we shall never come to that. 

 But, since there is such a strong tendency towards 

 the unnecessary use of botanical terms, it can be 

 checked only by a conscious effort, and that effort 

 ought to be made. A great deal could be done by 

 writers both of gardening books and in the garden- 



