532 
PHYTOGRaPHY. 
BOOK IV. 
these circumstances, the name should be rendered in an 
adjective form, with the termination anus^ «, um; as Pinus 
Lambertiana, in compliment to Mr. Lambert : and, for this 
reason, such names as Rosa Banksiae and R. Brunonii are 
wrong; they should have been R. Banksiana and R. Bru- 
noniana. 
It is customary to name an order from the genus that most 
accurately represents its characters, altering into acecB the 
termination of such names as end in a or as, or even us; as 
Rosaceae from Rosa, Spondiaceae from Spondias, Connaraceae 
from Connarus : or by converting the terminations us or um 
into e(B ; as Rhamneae from Rhamnus, Menispermeae, from 
Menispermum. But this is not very strictly adhered to; 
many well-known old names, not constructed upon this prin- 
ciple, being still retained; such as Salicariae, Leguminosae, 
Caryophylleae, Gramineae, Palmae, &c. 
There is no rule for the construction of the names of the 
higher divisions in Botany. 
In terminology, every name should have a distinct positive 
meaning, which cannot be misunderstood ; all terms that have 
two meanings being bad. For instance, the term nectary, 
which is sometimes applied to glands secreting honey, some- 
times to modifications of the petals or stamens, and even to 
the disk itself, is, in such an extended signification, un- 
intelligible. Again, the term corolla, unless limited to the 
inner series of the floral envelopes, may be often applied to 
the calyx, and then ceases to have any precise signification. 
Capsule has been applied by various authors to a polyspermous 
dehiscent compound fruit, or to an indehiscent polyspermous 
fruit, or to an indehiscent monospermous fruit: so applied it 
has no distinct meaning. For this reason modern botanists 
have contrived a large number of new terms, which have con- 
tributed much to the perspicuity of botanical writings. But, 
if this has been, in many cases, done advantageously, it has 
unfortunately happened that in others additional terms have 
been created uselessly, to the great confusion of the science. 
Thus, the old word albumen is perfectly well understood as 
the matter lying between the embryo and the seed coats when 
the seed is mature ; nevertheless, we have the terms perisperm 
