FLOWERING PLANTS INTRODUCTORY 



89 



take the Buttercup, not for straightforward description, as in the 

 succeeding examples, but as a text from which " digressions " 

 can be made, to consider a number of necessary preliminaries. 



The selection of the Buttercup at once leads to the considera- 

 tion of the naming of plants. Each kind of plant requires to be 

 given a distinct name, by which it can be referred to without 

 risk of confusion with other kinds. Since only the more prominent 

 and distinct kinds of plants have 

 been noticed and given local or 

 English names, difficulties arise in 

 the use of these. Whenever possible 

 it is well to refer to common plants by 

 their English names, and these only 

 should be used in teaching children. 

 The English name, however, often 

 applies to two or three plants, and 

 even when it is clearly applied to 

 one kind only, different names may 

 be given to this plant in different 

 localities. In other countries different 

 popular names will apply to the same 

 plant. For these and other reasons 

 it has been found of the greatest use 

 to give a definite scientific name to 

 each kind of plant. This name is 

 the same in all countries, and a 

 knowledge of it, even when for 

 ordinary use the English name is 

 sufficient, makes it easy to consult 

 books giving information about the plant. Since the time of 

 Linnaeus, who laid the foundation of the modern methods of 

 naming and describing plants and animals, the scientific name 

 has consisted of two Latin words. Thus three kinds of yellow- 

 flowered Buttercups are found commonly in our fields and hedge- 

 rows, and these, together with some rarer kinds, are all usually 

 called Buttercup. Distinctive English names are hardly in 

 common use since the ordinary observer does not distinguish 

 between these plants. The three kinds are the Upright Buttercup 



FIG. 50. Plant of Upright Butter- 

 cup (Ranunculus acris). (After 

 Farmer.) 



