1894,] Botany. | 173 
BOTANY, 
The Number of Plants.*—It is a question of science, and, if one 
will, also of reasonable curiosity, to ascertain approximately at least, 
how many are the plants which live upon the surface of our globe. 
And, in fact, almost every work of general botany devotes some atten- 
tion to this subject. It is indeed true that the criterion of “ species” 
is not equal for all botanists, some having a tendency to reduce, others 
to multiply (on the ground of very minute differences) the number in 
existence. The middle criterion of Linneus, however, prevails by 
great length, which, somewhat improved, predominates in the classical 
works of De Candolle, Bentham, Hooker, Grenier, Godron, Koch, 
Asa Gray, Parlatore, Caruel, etc., etc. Admitted, however, some dis- 
crepancy in this criterion, the effect would be almost insignificant in 
comparison with the immense number of plants. Without enlarging 
too much upon the successive increases which the researches of the 
diligent have brought to the number of plants, I will sum up these 
results in a chronological table: 
500-400 B. C. Hippocrates reckons 234 plants. 
310-225 B.C. Theophrastus “ Mo ~ 
Ti-A D: Dioscorides “ 600 “ 
23-79. Pliny : 800 “ 
1650. Caspar Bauhin “ 5,266 “ 
1704. Ray . 18,655 “ 
between species and varieties. 
1771. Linnzeus (see. Richter Cod. Linn.) reckons 8,551 species, of 
which 7728 are Phanerogams and 823 Cryptogams. 
1807. Persoon (Syn. Plant.) reckons 20,000 species of Phanero- 
gams. 
1819. P. De Candolle (Theor. El.) reckons 30,000 species of 
Phanerogams. 
1524. Steudel (Nom. Bot. I Ed.) reckons 70,000 species of Phanero- 
‘gams and Cryptogams. 
1841. Steudel (Nom. Bot. II Ed.). reckons 78,000 species of Pha- 
nerogams. 
1845. Lindley (Veg. Kingd.) reckons 79,837 species of Phanero- 
gams. 
1885. Duchartre (Elem. Bot.) reckons 125,000 species, of which 
100,000 are Phanerogams and 25,000 are Cryptogams. 
* By P. A. Saccardo, translated by Roscoe Pound. 
