PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OP THE AUSTRALIAN FLORA. 131 



In the botany of the future in iVustralia similar difficulties 

 may arise, indeed some have ah'eady arisen, but in a new 

 field of inquiry traditionary views and long established 

 errors have not the same influence as in old countries, nor 

 are botanists called to ascertain how far cultivation in ages 

 past may have led to abnormal development. The future 

 Flora of Australia therefore may not be so fraught with 

 perplexities of this kind as that of Europe, and those which 

 now create a difference of opinion amongst Australian 

 botanists may yield to the progress of science and give new 

 illustrations of the Avisdom which characterises the great 

 Creator's works. 



There are also, with regard to genera, difficulties which 

 need reform, not merely in lessening the number but 

 in grouping the species of the larger ones. Though the term 

 genus is simply a common substantive name given to a 

 number of species which resemble each other, yet difference 

 of opinion may prevail as to the propriety of extending the 

 number of genera or of placing a species under a particular 

 genus. Baron von Mueller Avith a view of simplifying the 

 study of botany, and of assisting the memory by limiting the 

 number of names, prefers the formation of large genera with 

 appropriate subdivisions. Thus, for instance, in the great 

 order of Epacrids, he has amalgamated under Styphelia 

 several of Brown's genera, and in a similar manner he has 

 incorporated Pleurandra with Hibbertia. So likewise, in the 

 order SalsolaceEe, he has reduced several of the old genera to 

 Bassia, and in the Amarantacefe Trichinium to Ptilotus. If in 

 the future a further amalgamation could be effected, the 

 fitudy of Australian botany Avould be facilitated by the 

 suppression of many long names (some genera including but 

 one or two species), and the retention only of those which 

 express the essential character of plants nearly allied. In 

 former times it was the fashion to make too many genera, and 

 Baron von Mueller's admirable Census is a proof of Avhat may 

 be done to lessen the number. Regarding his noble efforts 

 as an instalment of reform, the imagination looks forward to 

 a period when the Vegetable Kingdom, so far as genera and 

 species are concerned, may be considerably simplified, and 

 people may cease to think that botany is a science of 

 bcAvildering terms and hard names rather than the contem- 

 plation of characters impressed on the beauties of Nature by 

 the infinite skill of the Creator. It is said that a rose would 

 smell as sweet by any other name, and so it Avould : but then 



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