CHAP. II. 
OF DESCRIPTIONS. 
451 
" NuculcB % hinc convexae inde planae ibidemque sulco tenui 
exaratse, pallidae, testaceae, glabrae. Nucleus albus, albumins 
corneo, embryone erecto subclavato." 
A briefer and comparative mode of describing species is, 
however, more frequently employed ; of which the following 
of Hypericum perforatum, from Sir James Smith's English 
Flora, is a good instance : — 
" Root woody, somewhat creeping. Stem taller than th^ 
last (H. quadrangulum), and much more bushy, in consequence 
of the much greater length of its axillary leafy branches: 
its form round, with only two opposite ribs or angles, not so 
acute as those of H, quadrangulum. The whole herb is more- 
over of a darker green, with a more powerful scent when rub- 
bed ; staining the fingers with dark purple, from the greater 
quantity of coloured essential oil lodged in the herbage and even 
in the petals. Leaves very numerous, smaller than the last ; 
elliptical, or ovate, obtuse, various in width. Flowers bright 
yellow, dotted and streaked with black or dark purple ; 
numerous, in dense, forked, terminal panicles. Calyx narrow. 
Styles short, erect. Capsule large, ovate." {English Flora, 
iii. 325.) 
In order to show the materials from which a plant is de- 
scribed, it has become customary to add, immediately after 
the indication of its native country, within a parenthesis, cer- 
tain explanatory abbreviations ; such as v. s. sp. (vidi siccam 
spontaneam), meaning that a wild specimen has been exa- 
mined in a dried state; or v. s. c. (vidi siccam cultam), meaning 
that a cultivated specimen has been examined in a dried state ; 
V. V. sp. (vidi vivam spontaneam), meaning that it has been 
seen wild in a living state ; or v. v. c. (vidi vivam cultam), 
meaning that it has been seen cultivated in a living state ; and 
the like. These are useful things' to know, because it enables 
a reader to judge of the goodness of the materials from which 
an author has been describing. But they are capable of 
much improvement. It now appears, indeed, whether a 
plant has been seen alive or dried, wild or cultivated, but we 
have nothing to show what the nature of the examination has 
been to which it has been subjected in either case. A plant 
may have been seen alive, and not examined or analysed until 
G G 2 
