138 Plant Classification [ch. 



importance to man. As an example of his ideas of arrange- 

 ment, we may mention that he places the Myrtle and Laurel 

 side by side, because the Laurel takes a corresponding place 

 in triumphs to that accorded to the Myrtle in ovations ! 



Turning to the herbals themselves, we find that the 

 earliest show no trace of a natural grouping, the plants 

 being, as a rule, arranged alphabetically. This is the case, 

 for instance, in the Latin and German Herbarius, the Ortus 

 Sanitatis and their derivatives, and even in the herbals 

 of Brunfels and of Fuchs in the sixteenth century. In 

 Bock's herbal, on the other hand, the plants are grouped as 

 herbs, shrubs and trees, according to the classical scheme. 

 The author evidently made some effort, within these 

 classes, to arrange them according to their relationships. 

 In the preface to the third edition he writes — " I have 

 placed together, yet kept distinct, all plants which are 

 related and connected, or otherwise resemble one another 

 and are compared, and have given up the former old rule 

 or arrangement according to the A. B.C. which is seen in 

 the old herbals. For the arrangement of plants by the 

 A. B.C. occasions much disparity and error." 



Although the larger classificatory divisions, as now 

 understood, were not recognised by these early workers, 

 they had at least a dim understanding of the distinction 

 between genera and species. This dates back to Theo- 

 phrastus, who showed, by grouping together different 

 species of oaks, figs, etc., that he had some conception 

 of a genus. We owe to Konrad Gesner the first formula- 

 tion of the idea that genera should be denoted by substan- 

 tive names. He was probably the earliest botanist who 

 clearly expounded the distinction between a genus and a 

 species. In one of his letters he writes — "And we may 

 hold this for certain, that there are scarcely any plants that 

 constitute a genus which may not be divided into two or 

 more species. The ancients describe one species of Gentian ; 

 I know of ten or more." 



Very little of Gesner's botanical work was ever published, 

 and it was left to Fabio Colonna to put before the botanical 

 world the true nature of genera. He held most enlightened 

 views on the subject, and, in 1616, clearly stated in his 

 ' Ekphrasis ' that genera should not be based on similarities 



