xu 



EXPLANATIONS 



PRONUNCIATION 



Attention is called to the fact that the names of 

 genera and species in this work are niivrked to indicate 

 the accepted pronunciation. The indications are accent 

 marks placed over a vowel. The accent designates (1) 

 stress, or the emphatic syllable, and (2) the lengtli of 

 the emphatic vowel. Following the American custom, 

 as established by Gray and others, a grave accent {^) 

 is employed to designate a long vowel, and an acute 

 accent {') a short vowel. 



Thus officinale is pronounced offici-7iay-\i; micro- 

 cdrpus is pronounced micro-crfr-pus. It should be 

 remembered that the final e terminates a separate 

 syllable, as commu-ne, vulga-re, gran'-de. This final e 

 takes the short "sound of i, as in whip. 



Ordinarily in diphthongs the mark is placed over the 

 second letter. Thus, in aurea the au is meant to have 

 its customary long sound, as if written awe. In eii- 

 it has practically the long sound of u, as in Pseudo- 

 Quina, Pseitd-Acdcia. Double vowels take their cus- 

 tomary EngUsh sounds, as ee and oo. Thus, the oo in 

 Hobkeri is to be pronounced as in hook. In most cases, 

 the letters oi (from the Greek, meaning like to) are to 

 be pronounced separately: if the i is the penultimate 

 syllable (next to the last), it is long, as in yuccm-des; 

 if the i is the antepenultimate syllable (third from the 

 end), it is short, as in rhomboi-dea. In dioicus and 

 monoicus, however, the oi is a true diphthong, as in 

 moist. 



These pronunciations follow, in general, the common 

 English method of pronouncing Latin names. However, 

 many of the Latinized forms of substantive and per- 

 sonal names are so unlike Latin in general construction 

 that the pronunciation of them may not follow the rule. 

 As a matter of fact, biological nomenclature is a lan- 

 guage of itself thrown into a Latin form, and it should 

 not be a source of regret if it does not closely foUow 

 classical rules in its pronunciation of outlying or non- 

 Latin names. 



It has seemed best to make an exception to strict liter- 

 arj' rules in the case of personal commemorative names 

 in the genitive: we retain, so far as possible, the pro- 

 nunciation of the original name. Thus, a plant named 

 for Carey is called ('a-reyi, not Cariy-i; for Sprenger, 

 Spr&ng-eri, not Spreng'er-i; for Forbes, Forhs'-ii, not 

 Forhii-ii. It cannot be expected that uniform consi.s- 

 tency has been attained in this matter. It is not 

 always known how the person pronounced his name; 

 and many personal names do not make conformable 

 Latinized words. No arbitrarj' method of pronouncing 

 personal names is likely to be satisfactory. 



It may be well to add what are understood to be 

 the long and short sounds of the vowels: 



i as in cane. d as in cone. 



& as in can. 6 as in con. 



i as in mete. u as in juti'. 



e as in met. & as in jut 



1 as in jyine, 



I as in inn. 



J is often used as a vowel instead of i 



SPELLING 



The original spelling of generic and specific names 

 is preferred; that is, the spelhng used by the person 

 who made the name. In some cases this original 

 orthography does not conform to the etymology of 

 the name, partii^ularly if the name is made from that 

 of a person. Such a case is Diervilla, named for Diere- 

 ville. Ideally, the name should be spelled Dierevillea, 

 but Tournefort and Linna;us did not so spell it. 



In accordance with the best authorities, the digraph 

 se is used in the words caerulea, cierulescens, caespitosa, 

 ccBsia; ae is used in coelestis and coelestinum. 



The type ligatures as and oe have been dropped from 

 Latin-made names that have come into the vernacular. 

 Thus, as a common or English name, Spirjea becomes 

 spirea, Pseonia becomes peonia or peony, Brodiaea 

 becomes brodiea, Cratsegus becomes crategus. 



THE KEYS 



There are two groups of keys in the Cyclopedia, — 

 the main key, in Vol. I, to leading families and genera, 

 and the keys to the species in the different genera in 

 all the volumes. The user of the Cyclopedia should forth- 

 with famiharize the method of the keys. Page 79. 



To faciUtate the study of the plants, the species 

 have been arranged systematically or horticulturally, 

 under the genus, rather than alphabetically; and in 

 large or complex genera, an alphabetical index has 

 been supphed for rapid reference. The grouping of the 

 species is founded preferably on horticultural rather 

 than on botanical characters, so that the arrangement 

 does not always express botanical relationships. 



The species-keys are arranged primarily to aid the 

 gardener in making determinations. Every effort is 

 made sharply to contrast the species rather than to 

 describe them. A word of explanation will facihtate 

 the use of the keys. The sjjecies are arranged in coordi- 

 nate groups of various ranks, and groups of equal rank 

 are marked by the same letter. Thus, group .\ is 

 coordinate with aa and with aaa, and group b with bb 

 and bbb; and the b groups are subordinate to the .i 

 groups, and the c groups to the b groups, and so on. 

 Moreover, whenever possible, the coordinate keys 

 begin with the same catchword: thus, if a begins 

 "flowers," so do aa and aaa; and this catchword is 

 not used for keys of other rank. As an example, refer 

 to Abutilon, page 177. Look first at a, beginning 

 "Lvs.," then at aa, also beginning "Lvs." Under aa 

 are the coordinate divisions B and bb, each with 

 "Foliage" for the catchword. Under b there are no 

 subdivisions, but under bb there are divisions c and 

 cc, each with "Fls." for a catchword. Under c there are 

 no subdivisions, but cc has two coordinate divisions, 

 D, DD, each with "Blossoms" for a catchword. Again, D 

 happens to have no division, but dd has the divisions 

 E and EE with "Lf.-blades" as the catchword. In other 

 wonls, if the plant in hand does not fall under A, the 

 inquirer goes at once to aa. If it falls under aa, then he 

 determines whether it belongs to b or to bb, and so on. 



