5*24 
PHYTOGRAPHY. 
BOOK IV. 
“ Nucid(B 2, hinc convexae inde planae ibidemque sulco 
tenui exaratae, pallidae, testaceae, glabrae. Nucleus albus, al- 
b Limine 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 the 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 moreover of a darker green, with a more powerful scent 
when rubbed; staining the fingers with dark purple, from 
the greater quantity of coloured essentig,! 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 wliich 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, 
w'hether a plant has been seen alive or dried, wild or culti- 
vated, 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 
