78 PLANT NAMES 



SPECIFIC NAMES 



The following list of specific names, with their 

 meanings, is not, of course, exhaustive. Such a list 

 would fill a volume. It is computed that there are 

 more than 15,000 species of orchids, 12,000 in the 

 Compositae family, 7,000 Leguminosas, and 10,000 

 Ascomycetes, a class of the higher Fungi. This 

 gives us an idea of the enormous number of plant 

 species that have been defined and named. I have 

 therefore reduced the Hst to reasonable dimensions 

 by the omission of the following classes of names : 



1. Names of little known, obscure, or tropical 



species which are of small interest to the 

 ordinary gardener. 



2. Names commemorative of persons, which may 



be recognized by their beginning with a 

 capital. 



3. Names referring to a country or region, as 



americanus or alpinus. 



4. Self-explanatory names, as superbus. 



5. Names compounded with the prefixes or ter- 



minations given below. Every gardener 

 should be thoroughly familiar with these, as 

 they enter into and explain a vast number 

 of names. 



List of Prefixes and Terminations 

 In this Hst the position of the stroke indicates 

 whether a prefix or a termination is meant. Thus 

 'Oides is a termination, steno- a prefix. In some 



