96 



his own observation in the field. The book should not only make 

 it possible to become acquainted with most of the wild flowers 

 of the region, but should lead to the greater appreciation of the 

 plants and should ripen the acquaintance into friendship. 



George T. Hastings 



How plants get their names 1 



In this book Dr. Bailey discusses the rules governing the 

 giving of the scientific names of plants, giving numerous ex- 

 amples of individual plants and the changes their names have 

 undergone. Common names he dismisses with a brief referrence 

 to their interest in language study and suggestions as to how 

 their origin and use may be studied. 



A chapter is devoted to Linnaeus as the founder of the 

 modern system of nomenclature. Another chapter is taken to 

 explain the importance of exact determination of species, the 

 use of herbarium specimens for comparison, and the making of 

 herbarium specimens. The development of rules of nomen- 

 clature is explained, beginning with the Paris Botanical Con- 

 gress of 1867 and coming down to the Cambridge Congress of 

 1930. The International and American Codes are compared but 

 the relative merits of the two are said to be "naturally technical 

 and of little interest to the general inquirer." For cultivated 

 plants he stresses the advantages of class binomials to cover 

 groups where so much hybridizing has occurred that the forms 

 can not be referred to any original species. Attention is also 

 given to the pronunciation of scientific names. 



Systematic botany is still as important as any division of 

 the subject, as careful identification and segregation of species 

 and varieties is basic to studies in morphology, physiology, 

 ecology, heridity and distribution. The investigation of cul- 

 tivated plants to determine origins and identities is also an im- 

 portant field of study. 



The last seventy pages of the book are taken up with two 

 lists, one of genera likely to be met in horticultural literature 

 with the pronunciations, the other of specific names with their 

 meanings. 



1 How Plants Get their Names, L. H. Bailey. The Macmillan Co. 1933. 

 vi-209 pages. $2.25. 



