PLANT NAMES 59 



DESCRIPTIVE NAMES 



By far the greatest number of plant names refer 

 to some peculiarity of the plant in its root, or stem, 

 or leaf, or bloom, or seed, or smell, or general appear- 

 ance. To understand these names is instructive, 

 for they bring to our notice those features which 

 seemed most distinctive to the discoverer, and which 

 we might not have observed. 



It must be admitted, however, that those who 

 assigned these names were not always happy in 

 their choice of the characteristic which they selected 

 as best describing the plant. It often related to 

 some very inconspicuous feature, or did not belong 

 to the plant which it described in any marked degree 

 — not more than to scores of other genera. And it 

 frequently happened that the discoverer, who was 

 acquainted with but one species of a genus, pitched 

 on some characteristic of that species which does 

 not belong to many or any of perhaps hundreds 

 of species of the same genus afterwards discovered. 

 It is therefore not characteristic of the genus, and 

 to know its meaning does not help us. There are 

 few sciences in which modern students are more 

 hampered by the ignorance or carelessness of their 

 predecessors than Botany so far as nomenclature 

 is concerned. For a name, once given, is almost 

 irrevocable, and a mistake thus made is perpetuated 

 for ever. On the other hand, many descriptive 



