VOL. LV.— No. 3,069. 



SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 1912 



THE 



GARDENERS 



NOTE OF THE WEEK- 



Nomenclature of British 



cive, or otherwise, to the plants becoming 

 popular in proportion to their relative 

 merits. We have no doubt that names 

 have a considerable influence upon the 

 future of plants, and proofs are by no 

 means wanting in connection therewith. 



Although we are not in sympathy with 

 the views of those who would abolish 

 scientific names from the literature of the 



ferns, which, from the earliest days of the 

 called cult, has been so far unsatisfactory as to 



r 



popular designations, of which but a small 

 proportion of plant lovers have 

 any knowledge^ and wihich, in 

 some cases, would be more diffi- 

 cult to remember than those of a 

 scientific character, we hold a 

 strong opinion as to the import- 

 ance of simplicity in the nomen- 

 clature of plants. The more 

 simple the names of both genera 

 and species, provided they are in 

 other respects satisfactory, the 



have proved a hindrance to their attain- 



better. In the first place, such 

 names impose less strain on the 



and the 



linguistic 



do 



plants bearing 



memory, 



powers of cultivators, than 

 those that are more or less cum- 

 brous, and, in the second, the 

 plants are more quickly distri- 

 buted over a wide area, provided 

 they possess sufficient merit to 

 obtain the attention of the 

 general body of cultivators. It 

 is not difficult to understand why 



names that are 

 at once distinctive and simple 

 should become w^ell known within 

 a short period of their introdiic- 

 tion, when it is recognised that 

 before a plant can attain to any 

 considerable degree of popularity 

 it must be freely talked about, 

 and before this can be done the 

 name must be such that it can 

 be readily remembered and pro- 

 nounced. The opinion is held by 

 some that the name has but little 

 effect on the popularity to which 

 a plant may attain, and if con- 

 trary viov 



At the present time, as, indeed, during; 

 the past half-century or more, the varie- 

 ties of which a large proportion are of ex- 

 quisite beauty, are shut out of many hun- 

 dreds of gardens because of the cumbrous^ 

 and to many unintelligible, names that the 

 We have especially in our mind at the past and present authorities have thought 

 present time the nomenclature of British proper to give them. The authorities" 



have been consistent in their method of 

 naming from the earliest days of the cult 

 until the present time, but the method 



was not a good one. Latin 

 names have been given througli- 

 out, and, with the addition of 

 immense numbers of varieties 

 and sub-varieties, the nomencla- 

 ture has become increasingly diffi- 

 cult. To those who have a re- 

 presentative collection, and de- 

 vote much of their spare time to 

 it, the Latin names have the sim- 

 plicity of the first three letters 

 of the alphabet. But it should 

 be borne in mind that these 

 plants, in their marvellous diver- 



of form and wondrous 



confined 



ahnost exclusively to the gardens 

 of experts, but should take their 

 place in all gardens in which 

 hardy plants are grown and ap- 

 preciated. This is a consumma- 

 tion much to be desired, but 

 highly improbable until a reform 

 has been effected. To the ex- 



sity 



beauty, should not be 



sue! 



pert 



filix-foemina 



names as Athvriu: 



congestum minus 

 cristatum, Lastrea pseudo-mas 

 crispa cristata anguslata, Poly- 

 podium vulgare cornubiense 

 trichomanioides, Polystichum acu- 

 leatum hvbridium aculeato crucia- 



M- f 



acuti- 



.1 



MK. (11 A KL Kr- COMFORT. 



views are expressed 



proitahlv ask, with 



will 



" What IS in a 

 may adapt his 



name ? 



they 

 Shakespeare, 

 and possibly 



uig 



the garden 



answer to this ques- 

 tion, and suggest that " A rose by any other 



the position in 

 merits would warrant. We learn from 

 the report which was published in 



of the 17th inst. that the 



shrink, 



their the ferns from the'r 



name would smell as sweet. 



Such 



since m 



our issue 



society formed a few years 

 the interest of those who fully ap- 

 preciate the ferns indigenous to the 

 British Isles has now assumed propor- 

 tions that would justify work of a more 

 serious character than that in which it 

 has hitherto engaged. We suggest the so- 

 ciety should give the most careful atten- 

 tion to the nomenclature of the varietal 



answer to the question is, of course, per- 

 fectly correct, for a name, however cum- 

 brous it may be, will not in the smallest 

 degi^ee lessen the fragrance or reduce the 

 charm of the colouring of the flowers. The 

 point to consider, however, in discussing 

 the question of the influence of names upon 

 the popularity of plants is not whether 



they will affect some attribute, but whether forms, with a view to affecting siich revi- 

 a particular method of naming is condu- sion as would result in its simplification. i>oint to those who consider the existing 



turn Lowe, P. angula 

 lobum proliferum Alkhin, and 

 Scolopendrium vulgare limbosper- 

 mum cristatum, will be easy 

 enough. Not so to the majority 

 of the owners of gardens, who 



and not unnaturally, 

 from such names, and exclude 



gardens because 



of the burden laid upon them by their 

 sponsors. We have during the past 

 twenty years striven to extend the culti- 

 vation of the British ferns, and the pro- 

 gress the cult has made during this period 

 is largely due to our endeavours. AVe 

 have also discussed their merits with our 

 personal friends, and on more than one 

 occasion have been told there was but 

 little interest associated with the cultiva- 

 tion of plants having names that render 

 it difficult, if not impossible, to talk about 

 them with one's friends. We commend this 



