APRIL 95 



to mind the deep orchard grass of May, when the 

 apple-trees shed their bloom. But honour might have 

 been paid less clumsily to that excellent florist, the late 

 Mr. Leeds of Manchester, than by naming the eucharis- 

 flowered daffodil after him Narcissus Leedsi. 



Is it not mischievous that anybody should have been 

 allowed to fix on a delicate lavender crocus the stigma of 

 Crocus Thomassi ? Such a barbarous name never came 

 out of the same satchel as the Greek one of Chionodoxa 

 winter grace for an early flowering bulb with thyrses 

 of porcelain blue, or Amaryllis belladonna for the way- 

 ward Jersey lily. But the witless loons have tainted 

 this list also ; for here behold a newer kind advertised 

 as Amaryllis Johnsoni a name recalling the fact that, 

 in all his writings and recorded sayings, Dr. Johnson 

 hardly makes the most transient allusion to flowers of 

 any kind. 



The name of Hooker has been so conspicuous for two 

 generations in plant lore, that it were ungenerous to 

 carp at its frequent use as a specific title. Unluckily, 

 it is not musical, and the handsome yellow African 

 lily- wort suffers under the uncouth designation Bulbi- 

 nella (formerly Chrysobactron) Hookeri. 



Descriptive plant-names are sometimes very happy. 

 Information could hardly be more concisely conveyed 

 than by such a name as Dictamnus fraxinella, the 

 ash-leaved dittany. Gladiolus (gladiolus, ma'am, not 

 gladiolus, as some use, nor gladiolus, as others) is 

 perfect the little sword-bearer; it exactly describes 

 the foliage. But what sense can man discern in the 



