Introduction 



It is, perhaps, not superfluous to say that the 

 lexicons err at times, not only in their identification 

 of the plants, but also in the names of their parts. 

 Several examples will be found in the text. One 

 may be mentioned here. The lexicons say that both 

 palmes and pampinus mean a vine-tendril. In fact, 

 they have different meanings, but the meaning of 

 tendril belongs to neither. 



It may be well to set forth the various meanings 

 of some of the Latin words used of plants, as the 

 lexicons are defective in this matter. 



Folium usually means a leaf, but it also is used to 

 signify the petals of a polypetalous flower, such as 

 the poppy ; the ray-flowers of a composite, such as 

 the daisy ; and the divisions of the perianth in 

 monocotyledons, such as the lily. Further, it may 

 mean a spray or branchlet of any coniferous tree, or 

 the tunics of the bulb in such plants as squills. 



Ramus normally means a branch or bough, but 

 Virgil also uses it of the male catkins of the walnut. 



Filum, from its sense of a thread, comes to mean 

 the filament of a stamen. Since, by a metaphor 

 from weaving, it sometimes signifies the outline or 

 contour of a human or other figure, it is used for the 

 habit of a plant, and, it would seem, also for its stem. 



Silva may signify the flowering stems of any plant 

 that has more than one, such as lupins and Michael- 

 mas daisies. 



Cespes, which properly means a sod, may be used 

 of a stool — that is to say, a mass of roots in a plant 

 which makes offshoots, as the Michaelmas daisy. 



7 



