MERRILL: ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF TAXONOMY 57 



be considered only as tentative. We do the best that we can with what we have 

 at hand, and optimistically hope for the best. One closing example. In 1800, 

 about 65 species of Ficiis were more or less definitely known from the entire 

 world. In 1801 Willdenow' described four new species and rather naively 

 remarked: "Je ne doute pas que dans le climats chauds il n'existe encore 

 plusieurs especes de figuiers encore inconnues," little realizing that before the 

 year 1940, a total of approximately 2,400 binomials would actually be pro- 

 posed in this Brogningnagian genus — God forbid that these 2,400 binomials 

 represent 2,400 distinct species, but the number of valid ones is very great, 

 certainly approaching 2,000, even without splitting hairs on specific differences. 

 If any taxonomist is looking for new worlds to conquer, I recommend that he 

 undertake a monographic treatment of this vast assemblage. 



In citing the above examples of the rapid increase in the numbers of pro- 

 posed species in certain genera, far be it for me even to suggest that the actual 

 naming and describing of new species is an end in itself, or if there is anything 

 difficult about the art. As a matter of fact it is a very easy and simple matter 

 to name and describe a species as nezv; it isn't so easy to determine whether or 

 not the particular form in hand has been named and described by some earlier 

 botanist or whether it actually constitutes a sufficiently distinct entity to be 

 considered worthy of consideration as a species; to say nothing about 

 macrospecies or microspecies, nor even to mention subspecies, variety, sub- 

 variety, form, proles, or any other category that has been suggested, but never 

 too well defined, to indicate minor entities. With the myriads of forms with 

 which we must deal we must have names. The competent monographer fol- 

 lows and either embalms our possible error by recognizing a species as valid, 

 or sinks it into synonymy ; and if the latter happens then at some future 

 date some other monographer may reinstate it with the chances that in the 

 interim some other optimistic taxonomist may have renamed and redescribed 

 the same form under a new name in his confidence that a published reduction 

 is always a reduction, which, perhaps unfortunately, is not always the case. 



The special properties of a very high percentage of our thousands of species 

 of economic plants, whether utilized for food, for medicine, for fibers or for 

 any other purposes were originally discovered by empirical processes and by 

 observation rather than by direct and deliberate investigations. This is the 

 history of most plant species of economic importance whether it be the lowly 

 bean used for food, or the insignificant looking Ephedra sitiica now extensively 

 utilized in the practice of medicine. Although this Ephedra has been utilized 

 by the Chinese for many centuries it is only within the present century that it 

 was definitely demonstrated that its curative principle ephedrine is really of 



' Willdenow, C. L. Determination de quelques nouvelles especes de Figuier, tt observa- 

 tions generales sur ce genre. Mem. Acad. Sci. [Berlin] 1801: 91-104. f. 2-5. 1801. 



