Trees of .\< tr York Stale 13 



TAXONOMY OF PLANTS 



Taxonomy comes from tlif Greek -"'/^"s' and ri;'s^ meaning re- 

 spectively law and arrangement, and is concerned with the 

 logical arrangement of related things and the laws and princi- 

 ples governing that arrangement. Thus we may have the tax- 

 onomy of mollusks, insects, worms, and of fishes, in fact, of any 

 group of organisms or of related things. The taxonomy of plants 

 deals with the kinds of plants (identification), their nomenclature 

 and classification. 



NOMENCLATURE OF PLANTS 

 Plants have one or more so-called common names and a scien- 

 tific name. The common names usually designate some peculiar 

 feature or characteristic of the plant, the habitat where found, 

 resemblance to some previously known form, or some use, often 

 mythical, to which the plant may have been put. Willow Oak 

 signifies the oak with willow-like leaves. Shining Willow desig- 

 nates the willow with shiny leaves. Swamp Poplar is found in 

 swamps. Paper Mulberry refers to the mulberry, the bark of 

 >vhich is manufactured into paper. Hamamelis virginiana L. is 

 known under the common name of Witch Hazel owing to the 

 reputed value of its twigs in colonial times as divining rods to 

 indicate deposits of precious metals and veins of water. 



But common names at best are very confusing. Ironwood in 

 New York may refer to Ostrya virginiana (Mill.) K. Koch, or 

 Co/rpmus caroJiniana Walt. In Australia it is applied to woods 

 belonging to trees of such widely separated families as the 

 Legmnhiosae and Myrtaceae. In Burma, Xylki dolahriformds 

 Benth. goes under the name of Ironwood. The Ironwood of Cey- 

 lon and India is Mesim ferrea L. Added to the above is the con- 

 fusion resulting from the use of different languages. The Maple 

 i.^ known as Ahorn in Germany, as Erable in France, as Arce or 

 Meple in Spain. Scientific names are the same the world over. 

 They are derived from the Latin or Greek and take Latin end- 

 ings. Latin is a dead language and the rules which govern its 

 syntax never change. Pinus Strohus L. will mean the same to 

 a botanist now or a hundred years from now, be he Russian, Ger- 

 man, Italian, or English. 



A scientific name consists of three parts, a genus name 



