SOLIDAGO ULMIFOLIA. ELM-LEAVED GOLDEN-ROD, 107 



ledge of variation increases, the tendency of the best botanists is 

 to unite forms rather than to name new species for every litde 

 shade of difference. The herbaHst, to whom we have already 

 referred, gives a figure of what he calls the "Golden-rod with 

 dented leaves," and then refers to the "American Golden-rod," 

 of which he says : "This Plant is so like to the other, that the Fig- 

 ure of that may very well serve for this without any considerable 

 Error; " and though this expression may excite a smile from the 

 accurate botanist of the present day, it must be confessed that 

 the tendency in the past was too much in the way of making 

 distinct species, or at least of giving distinct names to every 

 slight deviation from an assumed typical form. Even of our 

 present species, Solidago ubnifolia, Dr. Gray says in the " Man- 

 ual," "too near Solidago altissima ; disdnguished only by its 

 smooth stem and the larger leaves." 



It may be here noted that the name ulmifolia, meaning having 

 leaves like an Uhims or Elm, is calculated to mislead, for the 

 leaf, has no great resemblance to that of an Elm. Willdenow, 

 under botanical rules which call for a descripdon and name, 

 should properly be credited with this one, as he first published 

 a description of it, though he gives credit to Muhlenberg as 

 having sent him the name. It appears however that Muhlen- 

 berg sent out toothers a different species under this designadon, 

 and it is probable, from the unlikeness of this to an Elm, that it 

 was not the one originally intended to bear the name ; but as 

 names are intended to be " only names," this is now of litde 

 consequence, except as a matter of history. 



The name of the genus Solidago is usually referred to Lin- 

 naeus, though he credits it to Vaillant, one of the great botanists 

 of the generation which immediately preceded his. It is said to 

 have been derived from solidiis, a Latin word mcanine makin<r 

 whole or solid, and to be given to the " virga-aurea," from its 

 medical reputation. Salmon, the herbalist of the beginning of the 

 seventeenth century, says : "It is one of the most noble Wound- 

 Herbs; cures Wounds and Ulcers." It also appears to have 



