CHECH LIST OF FOREST TEEES 9 



TECHNICAL NAMES OF HYBRID TREE3 



For a great many years it has been customary to designate hybrid 

 trees, which are supposed to be crosses between two related species, 

 by a combination of the technical names of the supposed parents. 

 Thus, a supposed hybrid between the White Oak and Post Oak was 

 designated as Quercus alba X Quercus stellata. In many cases the 

 parentage of the hybrid is clearly evident; but in not a few cases it is 

 difficult to determine the parentage, so that all authorities are not 

 agreed on this point. The difficulty in determining the parentage 

 of hybrids has resulted in the creation by different authors of a 

 number of these cumbersome names for the same hybrid. 



The plan set forth in Trelease's recent paper on " Naming American 

 Hybrid Oaks" happily proposes to do away with this old method of 

 designation, by applying simply binomials, the multiplication sign 

 ( x ) being prefixed in order to distinguish hybrid names from other 

 binomials. This procedure has given to our hybrid oaks names that 

 will remain fixed, no matter how much conflicting opinion arises 

 regarding their parentage. 



In past years a few of our hybrid oaks were described under 

 binomial names, of which Quercus morehus Kellogg and Quercus 

 lieterophylla Michaux are examples. It is probably true, however, 

 that the authors of these names did not know they were applying 

 them to hybrid forms. The uniform use of binomial nomenclature 

 for all hybrids was not generally accepted before Trelease applied 

 it to our hybrid oaks. The writer has gladly adopted this new 

 procedure for all hybrids enumerated in the Check List. 



CAPITALIZATION OF SPECIFIC AND VARIETAL NAMES 



It has been thought best in accepted technical names to follow the 

 rule of decapitalizing all specific and varietal names, including those 

 derived from geographic names and the surnames of distinguished 

 or other individuals. This rule was first adopted by the writer in 

 Nomenclature of the Arborescent Flora of the United States (1897) 

 from the Code of the American Ornitholigists' Union. With some 

 exceptions, zoologists in general adhere to the same practice. The 

 present usage of botanists, however, is not uniform. Some capitalize 

 all specific names derived from geographic and personal names, while 

 others decapitalize those from geographic names and capitalize 

 specific and varietal names derived from the names of persons. A 

 consistent rule based on literary practice would seem to require that 

 all specific and varietal names'derived from geographic and personal 

 names be capitalized. The decapitalization of all such names, 

 however, is adhered to by the writer in the interest of uniformity of 

 appearance in a catalogue of names. It is believed that this plan is 

 not likely to confuse the reader regarding the origin of names, the 

 source usually being apparent in the name itself. Thus, written in 

 the form adopted here, the origin of Pinus coulteri, Juniperus 

 utahensis, Picea hreweriana, Crataegus cliamplainensis, Crataegus 

 elhoangeriana, etc., would seem to be perfectly clear. 



It must be noted that the rule of decapitalizing specific and varietal 

 terms of accepted technical names is not applied in the case of tech- 

 nical names cited in various connections. The rule followed for such 

 names is to preserve the capitalization used by the original author. 



