224 BOTANICAL NOMENCLATURE 



the species. The name alba is in this case called the varietal name. 

 Another way of writing it, but which has not the sanction of botanists, 

 is "Viola tricolor, var. alba." 



The use of capitals and italics in printing botanical names is not, 

 except in special cases, of botanical significance or authority, though 

 attempts have been made to so treat it. Literature and individual 

 taste supply the rules for this usage. This statement does not, how- 

 ever, apply in the case of the initial of the generic name or of the name 

 of the author. 



It has been shown above how two plants may come to have the same 

 name assigned to them. In even a greater number of instances have 

 several different names come to be applied to the same plant. The 

 extent to which this has occurred may be realized from the fact that 

 more than eight hundred thousand names exist for the two hundred 

 and fifty thousand known fiowering plants, this being an average of 

 more than three names for each plant. Since only one name can be 

 recognized for a plant and only one plant for a name, it follows that 

 all others must be regarded as synonyms and should not be used. 

 Until a comparatively recent period very autocratic methods have 

 ruled in the selection and application of names under these circum- 

 stances. Each country has had but a few, or even but one botanist 

 who assumed authority, and these have, in most instances, acted 

 irregularly and inconsistently in selecting and applying their names. 

 Now, however, most botanists recognize the importance of having some 

 uniform custom, based upon sound principles, and the attempts in this 

 direction are likely to result in great improvement. 



The fundamental rule of nomenclature is that the first names, generic, 

 specific, and binomial, ever given to a plant, beginning with the year 

 1753, shall be permanent, provided that they do not involve errors. 

 Such errors may be literary or botanical. Literary errors may consist 

 in wrong spelling or inflection, or in a composite derivation, part of 

 the name being taken from the Greek and part from the Latin. Such 

 errors do not justify the substitution of another name, but only a correc- 

 tion, with as little change as possible. Botanical errors justifying the 

 substitution of a new name are numerous and varied. The most 

 common is the reference of the plant to a wrong genus, as calling a 

 Rtibus a Rosa. Whoever discovers such a mistake is required to refer 

 the species to its proper genus, but its specific name must if possible 

 remain unchanged. The name of the author of the specific name then 

 goes in parenthesis, as already explained. Not all changes of this sort 



