LIBRARY 



NEW YORK 



BOTANICAL 



BOTANIC/^ 



T O R R E Y A OA.U.EN 



Vol. 36 March-April, 1936 No. 2 



Bibliographical Miscellany II. Bentham's specific names 

 based on habit of the plant 



Joseph Ewan 



Such strange specific names for plants as centranthifoliiis, 

 bartsiaefolia, and zizyphoroides will come to the notice of even 

 the casual student of the Californian fiora for they present upon 

 first sight a wholly unfamiliar, if indeed not unpronounceable, 

 aspect. And, it may be wagered, the enigma will persist in- 

 definitely (except with the mentally irritated) until such time 

 as chance reading or conversation with an informed person sup- 

 plies an explanation for them. Upon noting the author of these 

 and many names of similar construction, it will be found that 

 George Bentham (1800-1884) is often responsible for their pro- 

 posal. Random notes on this phytographic device of Bentham, 

 along with a few illustrative instances from the Californian 

 flora and a postulated reason for its dextrous use by Bentham, 

 may be of interest beyond the field of examples given, for this 

 practice was carried widely into his descriptive botanical writ- 

 ings. 



From his several analytical biographers^ as well as from 

 personal examinations of his terse descriptions, it may be easily 

 discovered that Bentham was peculiarly gifted as a systematic 

 botanist, with, as Joseph Dalton Hooker remarked, "method, 

 grasp of subject, and thoroughness" as his "watchwords." 

 Direct evidence of his attitude may be found in his own declara- 

 tion of the principles of systematic botany prefaced to the 

 "colonial floras" where, as in the Flora Australiensis (1863), he 

 proposed that "descriptions should be clear, concise, accurate 

 and characteristic''' The importance of this last quality bears 



' The best biography of Bentham with an estimation of his powers was 

 written by Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, embracing the materials of four earlier 

 accounts apart from his close personal friendship with Bentham (Ann. Bot. 12: 

 ix-xxx, with portrait. 1898). 



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