1905] OLSSON-SEFFER—PHYTOGEOGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE 187 
can be used. FLAHAULT, NILSSON, WARMING, and ENGLER, among 
others, are of the opinion that vernacular names ought not to be 
excluded. While it seems absolutely imperative that in referring to 
plants we should use only the scientific name, it does not appear to 
be so overwhelmingly important to change all those terms of ver- 
nacular origin, which already are established in phytogeography, 
into quasi-international substitutes drawn from Greek or Latin. In 
the former case we have thousands of names, and consequently we 
use the accepted scientific names, which can be easily identified, 
instead of the vernacular, as the latter would surely give rise to con- 
fusion. On the other hand, the number of technical terms in phyto- 
geography is fortunately not yet so great as to make the list a very 
voluminous one. Even if vernacular names are retained, or intro- 
duced to designate certain facts, this would not militate against. 
a uniform nomenclature so long as the names are clear and do not 
give rise to any doubt as to their significance. 
One fatal objection to a change into Greek-Latin of such com- 
monly understood and accepted names as tundra, prairie, chaparral, 
scrub, savannah, and others, is that in spite of the adaptability of 
these ancient languages, it is impossible to translate these terms 
adequately, since the ancients did not have any conception of the 
ideas or facts these names represent, and any attempt to fabricate a 
modern name from the ancient languages to signify, for example, the 
formation known as the patana of Ceylon would be a failure, so long 
as we want the term to suggest to our mind the peculiar conditions 
that characterize this particular formation. If we consider the chief 
object of nomenclature to be to serve our convenience, I fail to see 
why the name patana would not be acceptable in any language, and 
thus be international. As a matter of fact, it is so already, and in 
all probability very few persons would approve of a Greek-Latin 
equivalent coined according to the principle of constructive naming. 
CLEMENTS, who is the principal advocate of the latter method, and 
who has augmented the labor of those who are endeavoring to find 
a4 way in the labyrinth of phytogeographical terms by proposing at 
least 500 new names, has given the name psilium to a prairie forma- 
tion, deriving this “international” term from WeAeiou or yura, bare, 
naked. Now this new name does not convey any idea of a prairie 
