TREES AND THEIR NAMES 



Si '.Ml'', kind- of trees ha\e a- many 

 aliases a- tin- criminal with the 

 longesl police-court record. 1 

 many rea-on- this is most unfortunate. 



I'o scientists, the c< >\\ fusion which re- 

 sults when people mean different things 

 b\ the >ame word or use <lil"ferent words 

 lor the >aiiie tiling, is intolerable, and 

 therefore they u>e'a carefully devised 

 and carefully guarded system of nomen- 

 clature. 



The every-day man is apt to In- im- 

 patient with what seems the pedantic 

 tondnes- , ( f the botani-t f..r jaw-break- 

 ing Latin names, which mean nothing to 

 the uninitiated, when common usage 

 supplies a familiar name. Hut the trou- 

 ble is that on the familiar name there is 

 seldom any agreement. Hence many 

 misunderstandings, many friendly di- 

 putes, and often failures even of tho-e 

 who know a good deal about trees t<> 

 distinguish correctly the different kinds 

 of tree- and \\< >< ids. 



School teachers are paying more and 

 more attention to nature-study work, 

 and in nature study are paying more 

 and more attention to forest trees he- 

 i-ause of tin.- general intere-t in forestry. 



\t best there are difficulties enough in 

 the way for tlios<- who have not had 5] 

 cial training in forest Ix.tany. when it 

 come- to identifying -pecinien.s 

 leave- and twigs brought to them b\ 

 their pupils. Leaves, particularly, often 

 vary great Iv not only in different 

 gions, but also in the -amc locality, and 

 even from different parts ,,f the -ame 

 tree. The lack of :nent on the 



common name adds another coinp'.: 

 tion. 



If it \\ere po--ihle to bring one 



t accept OIK- name for each kind \ " 

 there would l>e a decided advantage not 

 onlv through makin. 



nixe trees, but aNo through < I up 



confusion a - t' the \\ . common 



Use. The maker- of popular tree 



have t- 



b\ lollowing tin- 

 by the Tint, 

 which has made 

 ular n- 



thority a- po--ible ma\ ! given t- the 

 name nio-t widely and cnnn:- 

 Hut unfortunatel\ i( 

 pect that absolute unifori 

 l'<- brought ah. .ut. 



I he trouble i- ah; 

 what the botanist calls the 

 It i- ea-y enough to tell an oak from a 

 maple, and then- ought n>t to U- much 

 uncertainty though there often 

 to whether a tree i- a pine : 

 I'.ut oak, maple, pine, and spn: 

 generic name-, and each genu- inch: 

 a number of -; } Icre IK-.. 



coiifu-ion which -ften ap|>: 



chai 



Not only el,, different localitie- apply 

 different names to the -an md 



the saine name ! diff in 



the same locality -evera! different 

 max hi- u.sed f< >r a SUlg 

 likely, with faNe distinctions win-re 

 Ix.tanical ba-i- for :iction 



1-or instance, a certain oak oft led 



both black and yellow oak r. 

 split into hand-made lath in earl 

 and hence [ I .l-o the r. 

 oak ." but -mce t. ma 

 -traight-graincd I 

 \\ood-nu-n think th. 

 the lath-maker V 

 by -'-nt ki: 



all 



the many kin the 



white oak-, h.r. with : 



tip; 

 lure th< 



Indeed, tl. the 



f< 'i ;i diff' ' 'nil 



~t without limit. The true wh;- 









