166 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



perfect acquaintance with the species of large genera, it leads to con- 

 fusion. Sometimes these names indicate the character of the leaves, as 

 in Tilia grandifolia and parvifolia, or the existence of a definite number, 

 as in Platanthera bifolia, Paris quadrifolia, &c. ; or the character of the 

 inflorescence, as Butomus umbellatus, Bromus racemosus, &c. Or the 

 "habit "of a species is indicated by such adjectives as major, minor, 

 scandens, &c. ; or its duration, as by annua, perennis, &c. ; and in some 

 cases comparisons with other plants are marked, as in Ranunculus aconi- 

 tifolius, Acer platanoides, &c. 



Generally speaking, the colour of flowers is too variable for specific 

 distinctions ; but nevertheless many species are named from their usual 

 or constant colour, as Gentiana lutea, Lamium album and purpureum, 

 Digitalis purpurea, &c. 



Station, i. e. kind of soil or place inhabited by a plant, is another source 

 of names, as arvensis (common on ploughed land), agrestis, hortensis (on 

 cultivated ground generally), pratensis (in meadows), sylvestris or sylva- 

 ticus (in woods), palustris (in swamps), aquaticus (in or about water), and 

 satimiSj a term commonly applied to kinds regularly cultivated from seed. 

 Most of these terms are applied vaguely, and a similar want of accuracy 

 in the implied idea affects many of the names founded on the places 

 where plants have been first observed, such as Silene gallica, Stachys t/er- 

 manica, Genista anglica, &c., none of which are peculiar to the countries 

 named, though they may, in the first instance, have been considered to 

 be so. 



Such names as odorata, suaveolens, foetida, &c., expressing marked 

 qualities, were formerly much used; and the adjective qfficinalis is found 

 applied to a host of plants formerly valued by the herbalists for some 

 supposed medicinal or economical property. 



Substantive names used adjectively are mostly names of abolished 

 genera, retained in association with the new generic term, as Ranunculus 

 Flammula, Pyrus Malus, Matricaria Chamotnilla, Primus Cerasus, &c., 

 these old generic terms being in a few cases double, as Adiantum 

 " Capillus- Veneris" Lychnis " Flos-cucidi" &c. Or substantive proper 

 names are used in the genitive case, as Limnocharis Humboldtii, Viola 

 NuttaUii, Galium Vaillantii. The dedication to distinguished persons 

 may, however, be effected by adjectival terms, as Salix Doniana, &c., the 

 use of the genitive noun being more strictly appropriate when it is the 

 name of the discoverer or first describer of a species, the termination ana 

 conveying a mere compliment and not necessarily implying that the 

 person to whose name it is affixed had any thing to do with the particular 

 plant in question. 



Authorities for Names, If the rules of scientific nomenclature were 

 strictly enforced under the direction of a single authority, each plant 

 would have but one name (composed of the generic and specific appella- 

 tions), and this name would be indissolubly and unequivocally connected 

 with the idea of the peculiar species. But it happens practically that 

 such is not the fact, and this for reasons necessarily affecting various 

 cases. Not unfrequently it happens that a plant possesses more than one 

 specific name, which may arise from an author naming it a second time, 

 through entire ignorance of its having been previously observed, or from 

 his erroneously supposing a particular form to be distinct from the already 

 known and named species. Almost as frequently in the present day do 



