GENERIC NAMES IN HONOUll OF BOTANISTS. 285 



and Gypsophila, one that loves a chalky soil. Such as 

 mark the botanical character of the genus, when they 

 can be obtained for a nondescript plant, are peculiarly 

 desirable; as Ceratopetalum y from the branched horn- 

 like petals; Lasiopetalum, from the very singularly 

 woolly corolla ; Calceolaria, from the shoe-like figure 

 of the same part ; Conchiwn, from the exact resem- 

 blance of its fruit to a bivalve shell. 



In all ages it has been customary to dedicate certain 

 plants to the honour of distinguished persons. Thus 

 Euphorbia commemorates the physician of Juba a 

 Moorish prince, and Gentiana immortalizes a king of 

 Illyria. The scientific botanists of modern times have 

 adopted the same mode of preserving the memory of 

 benefactors to their science ; and though the honour 

 may have been sometimes extended too far, that is no 

 argument for its total abrogation. Some uncouth names 

 thus unavoidably deform our botanical books ; but 

 this is often effaced by the merits of their owners, and 

 it is allowable to model them into grace as much as 

 possible. Thus the elegant Tournefort made Gunddia 

 from Gundelscheimer ; which induced me to choose 

 Goodenia, for my much honoured and valued friend 

 Dr. Gooden6ugh, now bishop of Carlisle, though it 

 has, when too late, been suggested that Goodeno'cia 

 might have been preferable. Some difficulty has arisen 

 respecting French botanists on account of the ad- 

 ditional names by which their grandeur, or at least 

 their vanity, was displayed during the existence of the 



