180 BOTANICAL NAMES AND CHARACTERS. [LESSON 29. 



p. 87, and Ranunculus Flammula, p. 6. These are also written 

 with a capital initial, and need not accord with the generic name in 

 gender, &c. 



517. The name of a variety, when it is distinct enough to require 

 any, is made on the same plan as that of the species, and is written 

 after it ; as, Ranunculus Flammula, variety reptans, p. 6 (i. e. the 

 creeping variety), and R. affinis, variety cardiophyllus, p. 8, or the 

 variety with cordate radical leaves. 



518. Names of Groups. The names of tribes, orders, and the like, 

 are in the plural number, and are commonly formed by prolonging 

 the name of a genus of the group taken as a representative of it. 

 For example, the order of which the Buttercup or Crowfoot genus, 

 Ranunculus, is the representative, takes from it the name of Ranun- 

 culacea (Rocky Mt. Manual, p. 2) ; meaning Plantce Ranuncidacece 

 when written out in full, that is, Ranunculaceous Plants. This 

 order comprises several tribes ; one of which, to which Ranunculus 

 itself belongs, takes the name of Ranunculece; another, to which 

 the genus Clematis, or the Virgin's-Bower, belongs, takes accord- 

 ingly the name of Clematidece; and so on. So the term Rosacece 

 (meaning Rosaceous plants) is the name of the order of which the 

 Rose (Rosa) is the well-known representative ; and Rosece is the 

 name of the particular tribe of it which comprises the Rose. 



519. A few orders are named on a somewhat different plan. The 

 great order Leguminosce, for instance (Rocky Mt. Manual, p. 50), 

 is not named after any genus in it ; but the fruit, which is a legume 

 (356), gives the name of Leguminous Plants. So, likewise, the 

 order Umbettiferce (Rocky Mt. Manual, p. 112) means Umbellif- 

 erous or Umbel-bearing Plants ; and the vast order Composite 

 (Rocky Mt. Manual, p. 129) is so named because it consists of 

 plants whose blossoms are crowded into heads of the sort which 

 were called "compound flowers" by the old botanists (277). 



520. Characters, The brief description, or enumeration in scien- 

 tific terms, of the principal distinctive marks of a species, genus, 

 order, or other group, as given in botanical works, is called its 

 Character. Thus, in the Manual already referred to, at the be- 

 ginning, the character of the first great series is given; then that 

 of the first class, of the first subclass, and of the first division under 

 it. Then, after the name of the order, follows its character (the 

 ordinal character) : under the name of each genus (as, 1. Clematis, 

 p. 2) is added the generic character, or description of what essen- 



