LESSON 29.] BOTANICAL NAMES. 179 



Beech, Corylus, the Hazel, and the like. But as more genera be- 

 came known, botanists had new names to make or borrow. Many 

 are named from some appearance or property of the flowers, leaves, 

 or other parts of the plant. To take a few examples from the 

 pages of the Manual of the Botany of the Rocky Mountains, 

 in which the derivation of the generic names is not explained. 

 Myosurus, p. 5, means mouse-tail. Delphinium, p. 1 0, is from del- 

 phin, a dolphin, and alludes to the shape of the flower, which was 

 thought to resemble the classical figures of the dolphin. Vesicaria, 

 p. 25, is named from its bladdery pods. Trifolium, p. 54, refers to 

 the tri-foliolate leaf. Myriophylhim, p. 99, means a plant with 

 very many leaves, or many-parted leaves. 



515. Other genera are dedicated to distinguished botanists or 

 promoters of natural science, and bear their names : such are Par- 

 rya, p. 19, which commemorates one of our best known Rocky 

 Mountain botanists, Dr. C. C. Parry, and Ivesia, p. 86, named after 

 Lieutenant Ives, in command of an exploring expedition over the 

 Rocky Mountains. Others bear the name of the discoverer of the 

 plant in question ; as, Purshia, p. 80, dedicated to Pursh, an early 

 collector, who was one of the first to send this peculiar rosaceous 

 plant to the botanists of Europe ; and Claytonia, p. 38, first made 

 known by the early Virginian botanist Clayton. 



516. Specific Names, The name of the species is also a single 

 word, appended to that of the genus. It is commonly an adjective, 

 and therefore agrees with the generic name in case, gender, &c. 

 Sometimes it relates to the country the species inhabits ; as, Clayto- 

 nia Caroliniana, first made known from the Carolinas ; Viola Can- 

 adensis, from Canada, &c. More commonly it denotes some obvious 

 or characteristic trait of the species ; as, for example, in Petaloste- 

 mon, p. 58, one species is named violaceus, from its violet-purple 

 flowers, while another is named candidus, because its petals are 

 white ; a species of Mitella, p. 93, is called trifida, meaning three- 

 parted, referring to its three-parted petals. Some species are named 

 after the discoverer, or in compliment to a botanist who has made 

 them known ; as Berberis Fendleri, named after the botanist Fend- 

 ler, one of the first to find this species ; Silene Douglasii, p. 32, 

 named for the early botanist Douglas; and Viola Nuttallii, in 

 compliment to Mr. Nuttall. Such names of persons are of course 

 written with a capital initial letter. Occasionally some old sub- 

 stantive name is used for the species; as Agrimonia Eupatoria, 



