viii 



RULES FOR PRONOUNCING BOTANICAL NAMES. 



riv. ba. river banks, 



rivul. rivulets, 



ro. sid. road sides. 



rub. rubbish, 



sa. hea. sandy heaths, 



sal. m. salt marshes, 



sa. ma. sandy marshes, 



san. fi. sandy fields, 



san. gr. sandy ground, 



san. pi sandy places, 



san. sh. sandy shores, 



sa pas. sandy pastures, 



saw. d. salt-water ditches. 



sa.w. p. sandy wet places, 



sc. alp. Scottish alps, 



sc. bog. Scottish bogs, 



sc. isl Scottish islands, 



s. cliffs sea cliffs, 



sc. ma Scottish marshes, 



sc. mo. Scottish mountains, 



sc. pas. Scottish pastures, 



sc. roc. Scottish rocks. 



Scottish shores. 



Scottish thickets. 



Scottish woods. 



sc. sh. 



sc. thi. 



sc. wds. ] 



sc. wo. j 



sea co. sea coast. 



sea sh. sea shore. 



-sev. isl. Severn isles. 



sha. ba. shady banks. 



sha. bo. shady bogs. 



sha. la shady lanes. 



sha pi shady places. 



sh. roc. shady rocks. 



s. m. pi. shady moist places. 



Accents. In the first sixty-two pages the acute (') is used to denote accented syllables merely ; after p. 62. it is 

 restrained to such vowels as are sounded short, while the grave 0) is placed over those sounded long, as Martha, 

 Mary. The systematic names are distinguished as classical, i. e. names applied to plants by the ancients, by 

 the first letter being in Italic, as ^ N bies ; as commemorative, by the terminating letter or letters being in 

 Italic, as Banks/a; and as aboriginal, or of uncertain derivation, by the whole word being in Italic, as JE'rua. 

 All the other names are formed, in almost every case, from the Greek, but sometimes from the Greek and Latin. 



RULES FOR PRONOUNCING BOTANICAL NAMES. 



SYLLABLES. 



IN classical words there are as many syllables as there are vowels; except when u with any other vowel 

 follows g, q, or s, and when two vowels unite to form a diphthong. The diphthongs are (e, ce, ai, ei, oi, ui, au, 

 e.u, and mi. These seldom coalesce in final syllables, oo, ee, ea, and other combinations which never occur as 

 diphthongs, in classical words, follow, in commemorative names, the pronunciation of their primitives, as 

 Teedm, Woodsza. 



VOWELS. 



In this work, with the exception of the first sixty-two pages of the Linnean Arrangement, the sounds of the 

 accented vowels are indicated by the mark placed over each, the long sound by a grave accent ("), the short by 

 an acute (') ; but, as in the abovementioned sixty-two pages the acute accent alone is employed, the following 

 observations will be found useful in showing when the vowel is to be sounded long, and when short : 



Every accented penultimate vowel is pronounced long, when followed by a vowel or a single consonant, as 

 ^chillea tomentbsa; but it is shortened when followed by two consonants or a double one, as S6rbus, Taxus: 

 except when the first consonant is a mute and the second a liquid, as A v brus. 



Every accented antepenultimate vowel, except u, is pronounced short, as //elleborus, /ftimulus ; but when 

 succeeded by a single consonant, followed by e or i and another vowel, it is lengthened, as Stellaria : except i, 

 which is short, as 7'ilia. 



A unaccented, ending a word, is pronounced like the interjection ah, as Sti'cta (ah}. 



E final, with or without a consonant preceding, always forms a distinct syllable, as Silene, A'loe ; also when 

 the vowel is followed by a final consonant as Trichoma-nes, not Tricho-manes. 



7 unaccented, if final, sounds as if written eye, as Splca venti (eye) ; but, when it ends a syllable not final, 

 it has the sound of e, as Mespilus (Mespelus), Smiths (Smithe-eye). 



Y is subject to the same rules as t. 



The diphthongs cc and ce conform to the rules for e i ei is generally pronounced like eye i the other diph. 

 thongs have the common English sounds. 



In addition to the primary accent, every word of more than three syllables contains a secondary accent, 

 which is regulated by the same rules. The secondary accent must always be at least two syllables before the 

 primary accent, as in Chelidonium ; for its place the ear is a sufficient guide, and even were it entirely omitted, 

 still, however inharmonious, the pronunciation would not be incorrect. 



CONSONANTS. 



C and g are hard before a, o, and u, as C6rnus, Galium ; soft before e, i, and y, as Cetraria, Citrus. 



T, s, and c, before ia, ie, if, to, iu, and eu, when preceded by the accent, change their sounds, t and c into 

 sh, as Blet/a, Ficia ; and s into zh, as Blasza : but, when the accent is on the first diphthongal vowel, the pre- 

 ceding consonant preserves its sound, as aurantlacum. 



Ch, before a vowel, is pronounced like k, as Chelidbnium (kel), Colchicum (kolkekuni) ; but in commemora- 

 tive names it follows their primitives, as Richards6m', in which the ch is soft 



Cm, en, ct, gm, gn, mn, tm,ps,pt, and other uncombinable consonants, when they begin a word, are pro- 

 nounced with the first letter mute, as Pteris (teris), Cnlcus (nikus], Gmellna (melina'), 6'nidia (nidid) ; in the 

 middle of a word they separate as in English, as iap-sana, Z,em-na. 



Ph, followed by a mute, is not sounded ; but, followed by a vowel or a liquid, sounds like /, as Phleunj 

 (fleum). 



Sch sounds like sk, as Scho? v nus (skemts] ; in tl and zm both letters are heard. 



S, at the end of a word, has its pure hissing sound, as Dactylis ; except when preceded by e, r, or n, when 

 it sounds like x, as Kibes (at). 



X, at the beginning of a word, sounds like %, as Xanthium ; in any other situation it retains its own sound, 

 as T&xus, Tamarix. (Gardener's Magazine, vol. v. p. 232.) 



