180 BOTANICAL NAMKS AND CHARACTERS. [lESSON 29. 



worthia Michmixii, p. 65, named for the early botanist Michaiix ; 

 and Polygala NuUalUi, 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 Flommula, 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 tliat of the species, and is written 

 after it; as, Ranunculus Flammula, variety reptans, p. 41 (i. 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 ai-e 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 o? Ranun- 

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

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

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

 belongs, takes the name of Ranunculece ; 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 Rosece 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 Leguminosce, for instance (Manual, p. 123), is not named 

 after any genus in it ; but the fruit, which is a legume (3aG), gives 

 the name o^ Leguminous Plants. So, likewise, the order Umhelliferce 

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

 and the vast order Com-positce (Manual, p. 215) is so named because 

 it consists of plants whose Wossoras 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-. 



