APRIL 93 



own northern woods and wedded his own to it for 

 ever Linncea borealis. It became his lasting cog- 

 nisance, and inseparably associated with his touching 

 motto, Tantus amor florum so deep is my passion 

 for flowers. 



What is required of floral nomenclature is not that 

 it should commemorate some defunct, inglorious biped 

 (for there arise not many Linnaeus in an aeon), nor yet 

 that it should serve merely to mark the labels in a 

 herbarium. The titles should express the origin, chief 

 qualities, or points of difference of genera and species, 

 with ail the precision and melody of the Latin tongue. 

 Take the beautiful family of Iris as an instance: the 

 two native species are satisfactorily named, the common 

 yellow flag being known as Iris pseudacorus, that is, 

 the flag-like iris ; and the gladdon or wood iris as Iris 

 fcetidissima the stinking iris, a title fairly earned by 

 the evil odour of the leaves. But when I take up a 

 list of new species of Iris from the East, the first to 

 catch the eye is one described as having ' long grassy 

 foliage and pale sulphur flowers,' surely hardly sufficient 

 reason for naming it Iris Grant-Duffil To another 

 species from the Holy Land has been assigned a title 

 from a higher source than an ex-Governor of Madras, 

 for it is prettily called Iris Marice ; and a third, from 

 the same country, seems to have been rescued from the 

 terrible name of Iris Bismarckiana, for it is now to be 

 distinguished as Nazariensis. That is fitting enough ; 

 but fresh horrors lie in wait over the page, for here is a 

 lovely species ' with large, white flowers, and a beautiful 



