80 FLOWER-FIELDS OF ALPINE SWITZERLAND 



but obey the law of necessity, and enter into 

 the beautiful domain from which they have dis- 

 sipated the darkness." This is delightfully put 

 and is all very true. Latin nomenclature does 

 tend immensely to dispel confusion, though in 

 certain quarters it may wound the sense of senti- 

 ment, and we shall no doubt always have con- 

 firmed adherents of popular names. 



But, however it may be with the use of popular 

 names in England, I venture to think we have 

 better things to do than to Anglicise the Alpines 

 in their Swiss home, and that— as says a well- 

 known botanist — " when English names are coined 

 for species which do not even occur in Britain, 

 the result is sometimes ridiculous, e.g. ' Dodo- 

 noeus's French Willow ' for an Epilobium." And 

 it is not alone ridiculous : it is often paltry and 

 in the worst of taste, and it will frequently 

 drive romance and beauty from the Alpine land- 

 scape. What is there aesthetic, or even useful, 

 about " Mignonette-leaved Lady's Smock " for 

 Cardamine 7^esedifolia ; " Neglected Pinkwort " for 

 Dianthus neglectus ; " Doronic Groundsel " 

 for Senecio Doronicum ; or " Glacier's Yarrow " 

 for Achillea nana ? Are not the Latin names 

 truer and more beautiful ? And are they not 



