314 CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION 



define them in a convenient way, and add others so far as 

 necessary. The pubhcation of this carefully prepared vo- 

 cabulary gave the necessary material for making botanical 

 description henceforward an art, while in his systematic 

 writings Linnaeus left examples of the art, well calculated to 

 serve as models of excellence. In describing a plant his ideal 

 was to state all that was necessary and nothing that was 

 unnecessary to distinguish it from all other plants. 



Since the time of LinniEus, botanical terminology has 

 been enriched and improved in various ways to meet the 

 needs which have arisen ^\'ith wider knowledge; but the art 

 of describing plants still remains very largely what its first 

 great master made it. Pictures are no longer deemed neces- 

 sary to make up for vagueness of description; when it is 

 possible to use them, their scientific value is nmch increased 

 because what they lack mav' be supplied in words, and the 

 significance of what is represented can be made plain. In- 

 deed, to one familiar with the terms used, a complete bo- 

 tanical description calls up so clear a mental picture of each 

 part described, that a drawing sufficiently accurate for recog- 

 nition might often be made even though no specimen of the 

 plant had ever been seen. Surely this is a triumph such as 

 ordinary language has never attained. 



90. Terminology and nomenclature. Persons who have 

 only a sujierficial acciuaintance with botany are apt to think 

 of it merel.y as a study of names, which hinder rather than 

 help one in learning whatever botanists may kno^^' of general 

 interest about plants. Doubtless the student of the fore- 

 going chapters already feels that this is far from true; yet 

 this false opinion conceals a truth which it will lie worth 

 while for us to consider. 



Special names and descriptive expressions of various sorts 

 do occupy a prominent ])lace in the scientific stuily of plants, 

 and these botanical technicaliti(>s doubtless present a more 

 formidable appearance than the special terms of most other 

 sciences. Yet, paradoxical as it may seem, the very fact 

 that botanists use these means of e\})i-essing themselves, 

 makes it much easier for a beginner to arrive at an under- 

 standmg of what they have to say, and so to a knowledge of 



