CH. XXV. LINNMUS ON SPECIES. 



209 



only given one name to a set of plants ; calling all roses^ for 

 example, by the name Rosa^ and then adding a descrip- 

 tion to show which particular kind of rose was meant. 

 Thus, for instance, for the Dog-rose they were obliged to 

 say Rosa, sylvestris vulgaris, flore odorato incarnato, that is, 

 * common rose of the woods with a flesh-coloured sweet- 

 scented flower.' This, you will see, was extremely incon- 

 venient ; it was as if all the children in a family were called 

 only by their father's name, and you were obliged to describe 

 each particular child every time you mentioned him ; as 

 ' Smith with the dark hair,' or ' Smith with the long nose and 

 short fingers,' &c. A botanist named Rivinus had suggested 

 in 1690 that two names should be given to plants, and 

 Linnaeus was the first to act upon this idea and to give a 

 second specific, or, as he called it, trivial name to each par- 

 ticular kind of plant, describing the plant at the same 

 time so accurately that anyone who found it could decide at 

 once to what species it belonged. To accomplish this he 

 classified all plants, chiefly accbrding to the number and 

 arrangement of their stamens and pistils (or those parts 

 which produce the seeds), and then he subdivided them 

 by the character and position of their leaves and other parts. 

 In describing the geranium, for example, he mentions 

 first the ' sepals,' or little green leaves under the flower ; he 

 says they are five, and very pointed ; then the ' petals,' or 

 flower-leaves, are five also, growing on the sepals and 

 heart-shaped ; the * stamens ' are ten in number, and grow 

 separate ; the little vessels on the top of the stamens, which 

 are called * anthers,' and hold the yellow dust, are oblong ; 

 the * pistil,' or seed-vessel, is formed of five parts, which 

 are joined together into one long beak which ends in five 

 points ; the seeds are covered with a skin and are shaped 



