A Word for Books 



deed, is the only one the plant has ever 

 borne ; that sometimes there is another which 

 is common in the sense of being English, but 

 not in the sense of being more familiar even 

 to non-scientific ears ; that sometimes the 

 botanical and the vernacular names differ 

 only through the change of a letter or two, 

 as with orchid, heliotrope, lily, and gentian ; 

 that sometimes, of course, the vernacular 

 name is so well known and sufficient that 

 even a botanist does not use the other in con- 

 versation or ordinary writing ; and finally, 

 that the specific botanical name need not 

 always be tacked to the generic — even a 

 botanist does not say claytonia virginica 

 when claytonia would do as well, or refuse 

 to speak of a houstonia without adding the 

 ccerulea. 



Then, would it not have been better to 

 explain why botanical names have sometimes 

 been duphcated than simply to jeer at the 

 fact ? Does not the fact that so many of 

 them refer to Carolina, Virginia, and Canada 

 seem interesting instead of ludicrous if one 

 understands that they were bestowed at a 

 time when European botanists knew little 



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