16 



The Subject 



these are the phases specially significant to the beginning stu- 

 dent, for he must first know his materials. The physiology 

 and genetics, using these terms in the broadest sense, are sub- 

 jects of the highest importance; the time must soon come 

 when the accumulated knowledge must be assembled and ably 

 digested. 



Be it said at the beginning that the nomenclature of the 

 botanical varieties or races of garden vegetables lies yet in an 

 uncertain state. The search of literature for the oldest ten- 

 able trinomial designations has not been made, as it has been 

 made for the names of wild plants. The search will be ex- 

 ceedingly complex, and it will need the services of a trained 

 taxonomist. What classes of literature should be admitted 

 as competent in such inquiries is a subject for discussion before 

 the search itself is undertaken. This field of taxonomy is 

 undeveloped. In the meantime, the writer presents diagnoses 

 of the varieties under the best names he knows, hoping to 

 make a fuller survey of the subject on another occasion. 



The varieties under consideration in these technical appen- 

 dices are mostly the classes or forms presenting such botanical 

 differences that they are capable of preservation and detection 

 on the herbarium sheet. The writer has no sympathy with 

 the practice of giving Latin botanical names to the usual 

 numerous horticultural varieties. 



The technical descriptions in this book are all drawn directly 

 from the cultivated plants themselves, and in no case are they 

 copied. This may account for certain discrepancies in compari- 

 son with standard botanical characterizations. In this volume 

 we are concerned with the cultigen (the species or the plant 

 of a garden or agricultural ancestry). 



It will be noticed that most of the species are credited to 

 Linnseus (Linn. Sp. PI.). With his Species Plantarum, 1753, 

 begins the modern naming of plants, with the use of the bino- 

 mial system. This system comprises the genus and the species, 

 the generic name standing first and the specific name second : 

 all onions and their kin are Allium ; the species are A. sativum 



