DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 145 



But we must now point out the laws, according to which 

 both the generic and trivial names have been invented. 



I. Of the Generic Name. 

 213. 



The Generic name should be a substantive, and the Trivial 

 name an adjective. Hence adjectives, as generic names, are 

 objectionable. We allow many at present, because custom 

 has consecrated them, {Scabiosa, Gloriosa, Impatiens, Fon- 

 tinalis), but to form new names on this principle is not per- 

 mitted. 



214. 



Generic names, which have been employed by the most 

 ancient classical writers, are always to be preserved, provided 

 they do not stand in direct opposition to the other rules of 

 nomenclature, (Betula, Samolus, Mumulus, and so forth.) 



215, 



The best generic names are those which express the cha- 

 racter of the genus in a single well-formed word. They are 

 compounded of Greek or Latin words, (Epilobimn, Cerato- 

 carpus, Lithospermu7n, Tragopogo7i). This rule is not 

 exactly attended to, when we attempt to express, in the ge- 

 neric name, such peculiarities as are not immediately con- 

 nected with the essential generic character. These have of- 

 ten an allusion to the general aspect of plants, to their situa- 

 tion, colours, and other properties. {Lychnis, . Stratiotes, 

 Lonchitis, Adoxa^ Mimulus, Hydrocharis, Potamogeton). 



216. 



Generic names should contain positive information. Hence 

 all those are exceptionable which are founded upon a resem- 

 blance to other genera, and which express this resemblance 

 by diminutives, or by syllables, either prefixed or added. x 



K 



