180 BOTANICAL NAMES AND CHARACTERS. [LESSON 29. 



worthia Michauxii, p. Go, named for the early botanist Michaux ; 

 and Polygala Nuttallii, in compliment to Mr. Nuttall, who described 

 it under another name. Such names of persons are of course writ- 

 ten with a capital initial letter. Occasionally some old substantive 

 name is used for the species ; as Magnolia Umbrella, p. 49, and Ra- 

 nunculus Flammula, p. 41. These are also written with a capital 

 initial, and need not accord with the generic name in gender, &c. 



517. The name of a variety, when it is distinct enough to require 

 any, is made on the same plan as that of the species, and is written 

 after it; as, Ranunculus Flammula, variety reptans, p. 41 (5. e. the 

 creeping variety), and R. abortivus, variety micranthus, p. 42, or 

 the small-flowered variety of this species. 



518. Names Of Groups, The names of tribes, orders, and the like, 

 are in the plural number, and are commonly formed by prolonging 

 the name of a genus of the group taken as a representative of it. 

 For example, the order of which the Buttercup or Crowfoot genus, 

 Ranunculus, is the representative, takes from it the name of Ranun- 

 culacece (Manual, p. 34) ; meaning Plantce Ranunculacece when 

 written out in full, that is, Ranunculaceous Plants. This order 

 comprises several tribes ; one of which, to which Ranunculus itself 

 belongs, takes the name of Ranunculea ; another, to which the 

 genus Clematis, or the Virgin's-Bower, belongs, takes accordingly 

 the name of Clematidece ; and so on. So the term Rosacece (mean- 

 ing Rosaceous plants) is the name of the order of which the Rose 

 (Rosa) is the well-known representative ; and Rosea is the name of 

 the particular tribe of it which comprises the Rose. 



519. A few orders are named on a somewhat different plan. The 

 great order Leguminosa, for instance (Manual, p. 123), is not named 

 after any genus in it ; but the fruit, which is a legume (356), gives 

 the name of Leguminous Plants. So, likewise, the order Umbelliferte 

 (Manual, p. 187) means Umbelliferous or Umbel-bearing Plants; 

 and the vast order Composite (Manual, p. 215) is so named because 

 it consists of plants whose blossoms are crowded into heads of the 

 sort which were called "compound flowers" by the old botanists 

 (277). 



520. Characters. The brief description, or enumeration in scien- 

 tific terms, of the principal distinctive marks of a species, genus, 

 order, or other group, as given in botanical works, is called its 

 Character. Thus, in the Manual, already referred to, at the begin- 



