97 
A REVIEW OF THE LATIN TERMS USED IN BOTANY 
TO DENOTE COLOUR. 
By B. Daypon Jackson, Sec.'L.S. 
Recentty I have had occasion to examine the various definitions 
of colours as given by botanic authors, and have been much surprised 
at the contradictory senses in which the same term has been em- 
ployed. In this article I give a condensed account of the results 
of my oe with a brief list of the chief works which have 
helped m 
Nainsaily my first idea was to take Saccardo’s Sy Stems as 
the standard, that being the latest work, and widely known; but 
difficulties arose. Thus, the selected terms are rarely defined: what 
serve as definitions are the polyglot translations, and therefore not 
critical; then the synonyms are not particularized, their differing 
quality being unexplained. Further, the kindred tints a ge 
defined, so that widely diverse tones are grouped together 
“Colores “affines.” Nor do the appended tables ~ lepine sapply 
all that is at aan the colours shown do not e the w 
scale, with the Seneca of primary, seseaery. aad tertiary 
which go to fake up the tints we have to describe, and in the 
selected oo many persons would disagree with t e names 
assigned. For i 
crimson of seiiatd 8 
more elaborate attempt at a complete scheme of 
nari for colour as regards naturalists is Ridgway’s Nomenclature, 
but here again we find hindrances. The examples given are not 
ary aduated; some are very close to each ne er, others are 
widely separated. The names propounded are somewhat arbitrary, 
and therefore not likely to be adopted universally consequently 
the terms coined by the author would not be understood, save by 
those who had access to the book itself. hee objections seem to 
hold good more or less to every manual which has come under my 
observation. 
ri we turn to classical authors to = and get to the foundation, 
e still worse confounded. Classical writers, most 
hit - inisioel te more than poetic onicss in their allusion to 
colour. Then, too, our knowledge of their pigments and dyes is 
fragmentary; their choice of dye-stuffs was limited, and the 
resulting hues probably crude. The love of landscape, with its 
cri selon: Give @ carnation or re co cimee the colour of 
bricks half burned; of an ash or ashen colour.” The "sans 
Journat oF Borany.—Vou. 37. [Marcu, 1899.] H 
