CHAPTER I. NAMING OF PLANTS. 269 



may be either a qualifying adjective or a noun ; it is much more 

 commonly the former, and then, if not derived from a proper 

 name, should begin with a small letter, as in Bartonia verna and 

 Lithospermum hirtum ; but if derived from a proper name it 

 should begin with a capital, as Menispermum Canadense, and 

 Cynoglossum Virginicum. 



When the specific name is a noun, it may either be a proper 

 name in the genitive case (corresponding to our English "pos- 

 sessive "), as Berberis Fendleri (Fendler's Barberry), and Conyza 

 Coulteri (Coulter's Conyza) ; or it may be a common noun in 

 the genitive, as Polygonum dumetorum (the Polygonum of the 

 thickets), and Salix desertorum (the Willow of the deserts) ; or, 

 again, the noun may be by apposition in the same case as the 

 generic name ; the following are examples : Chenopodium botrys, 

 Panicum scoparius and Cypripedium calceolus. In all these cases, 

 if the specific name be a proper noun, it should begin with a 

 capital ; if a common noun, with a small letter ; but names which 

 have previously been used as the names of genera, and have 

 been reduced to those of species, are regarded as proper nouns 

 and capitalized, whether they were originally proper names or 

 not ; the following are examples : Piscidia Erythrina, Leptopoda 

 Helenium and Aristolochia Serpentaria. In a few instances spe- 

 cific names consist of two nouns, one in the nominative, and the 

 other in the genitive, connected by a hyphen : Panicum crus- 

 galli, Carex crus-corvi, Taraxacum dens-leonis and Capsella bursa- 

 pastoris, are examples. Sometimes, however, one of the words 

 is a noun, and the other a qualifying adjective, as Jpomcea bona- 

 nox. 



Rarely a specific name is derived from some other language 

 than the Latin, for example, the noun Kali, in the name Salsola 

 Kali, is derived from the Arabic, and the word macrocarpon, in 

 the name Vaccinum macrocarpon, is from the Greek language. 



In cases where species are sub-divided into varieties, the 

 latter are designated by an additional name, as in the following 

 examples : Ranunculus hyperboreus, var. natans, Potentilla dis- 

 secta, var. glaucophylla and Hydrophyllum occidentale, var. 

 Fendleri. 



A recognized rule among botanists is, that the name which 

 should finally attach to a plant is that which was first published. 



