6 MISCELLANEOUS CIRCULAR 92, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



willows, and ashes has, on the whole, prevented the use of inapplicable 

 generic common names. 



With regard to imperfectly understood groups of trees, however, 

 popular usage has given us many misapplied common names, to 

 w r hich special consideration was given by the committee. Popular 

 usage is a powerful agency in establishing common plant names, 

 regardless of whether the names so established are correctly applied. 

 This influence of popular usage is so strong in some cases that it 

 became a serious question as to how far the committee should go in 

 trying to establish correct common names for those trees. Obviously, 

 from the standpoint of consistent literary usage, there is no question 

 of the desirability of such corrections, which would clear up much 

 popular confusion. 



When the first edition of the Check List of the Forest Trees of the 

 United States was written, the author felt strongly that consistency 

 should be observed in the use of common names, at least within 

 certain groups of trees, notably pines, spruces, firs, larches, junipers, 

 oaks, hickories, poplars, willov r s, etc. Accordingly, popular usage w r as 

 ignored in the case of the genus Juniperus, and the common names 

 of our native species w r ere made to carry the term "Juniper." Thus, 

 among other similar changes, the long-established name " Red Cedar " 

 (Juniperus virginiana) became "Red Juniper.' 1 Twenty-five years' 

 use oi the Check List has shown that, incorrect and inconsistent 

 though it is, the name "Red Cedar" is firmly established in popular 

 usage. The authors of "Standardized Plant Names," a work 

 recently published in the interest of standardizing the names of plants 

 in commerce, recognizing the need of calling attention to the popular 

 misapplication of certain plant names, have, without discarding such 

 a name as "Red Cedar," reminded the reader that this is not a true 

 cedar by writing it "Redcedar." Similarly, Bald Cypress (Taxo- 

 dium), not a true cypress, is written "Common Baldcypress" and 

 Incense Cedar (Libocedrus) , not a true cedar, is written "California 

 Incense-cedar." From an educational point of view, this is a clever 

 and worthy effort to instruct the laity and still to preserve popular 

 names. 



The conclusion reached with regard to further use of misapplied 

 but established common names of trees was that it is hopeless to 

 attempt to change such names, but that the most widely used common 

 name should be selected for each tree. 



COMMON NAMES OF TREES AND TRADE NAMES OF THEIR WOODS 



Although the Forest Service has made special effort to effect 

 an agreement with lumber manufacturers and related interests 

 on the common names adopted by the Service for forest trees and the 

 names adopted by the trade for the lumber cut from those trees, 

 complete agreement has not yet been reached. It is hoped, however, 

 that still further effort finally will bring about agreement regarding 

 the remaining trade names over which there is now some difference of 

 opinion. The importance of complete accord among foresters and 

 trade interests on the use of the names of different sorts of lumber 

 is very great from the standpoint of the consumer. For example, 

 the common name adopted by the Service for Liquidamhar styraciflua 

 is "Red Gum," which is applied both to the tree as it occurs in the 

 forest and to its lumber on the market. The trade handles this 



