6 PHARMACEUTICAL BOTANY 



jective. Specific names taken from names of persons should always 

 begin with a capital. 



Names of varieties are applied in three different ways. Either 

 the name of the species is given and followed by the prefix var.' 

 before the varietal name, as Chenopodium ambrosioides var. anthel- 

 minticum; or the varietal name may be appended to the name of the 

 species, as Chenopodium ambrosioides anthelminticum\ or the varietal 

 name may be placed immediately after the name of the genus and 

 the specific name dropped, as Chenopodium anthelminticum. 



It frequently happens that a botanist is careless in naming a species, 

 and, without ascertaining whether the same name has been assigned 

 to another species, applies it to his, thus causing duplication. For 

 example, there are two distinct species of plants named Prunus 

 virginiana, one of these, the Wild Black Cherry, the other, the Choke 

 Cherry. In this instance the name Prunus virginiana does not tell 

 us which species the writer or speaker refers to. It might be the 

 Choke Cherry named ft Prunus virginiana" by Linnaeus or the Wild 

 Black Cherry named "Prunus virginiana" by Miller at a later date. 

 Accordingly, it is necessary to add to the name of the species the 

 author's name. Thus, Prunus virginiana Linne refers to the Choke 

 Cherry while Prunus virginiana Miller refers to the Wild Black 

 Cherry. In this connection it is customary to abbreviate the name 

 of the author thus, L. for Linne, Mill, for Miller, Ait. for Aiton, 

 Loisel. for Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, or Tourn. for Tournefort. 



Whenever a plant is transferred from one genus to another, it 

 must retain its original specific name, unless the genus to which it 

 is transferred already possesses a species with that name, in which 

 case a new specific name must be given it. Moreover, the name of 

 the botanist who assigned the original specific name but placed it 

 under a different genus must be placed in parenthesis between the 

 specific name and the name of the botanist who later connects it 

 with another genus. For example, we read as the official definition 

 for Purging Cassia in the National Formulary IV "The dried fruit 

 of Cathartocarpus Fistula (Linne) Persoon." The significance of the 

 name Linne in parenthesis is that he had previously given the specific 

 name Fistula to the plant indicated but placed it under a different 

 genus, which genus happened to be Cassia. Therefore Persoon, 



