54 THE FLORIST AND 
WELLINGTONIA GIGANTEA. 
Dear Sir: In the last number of "Hovey's Magazine" (January, 1855,) 
wlncli a friend has just placed in my hands, there is an article in reference 
to this plant from a gentleman in California, with additional remarks by the 
editor, which, I think, the "Florist," as the organ of the Botanical portion 
of the American Horticultural public, ought not to pass by in silence. 
The gentleman writes : "Mr. Lobb, collector for Messrs. Veitch & Co., 
of Exeter, England, discovered these trees in 1850, and sent specimens. Now, 
sir, an American trapper or hunter first discovered the trees in 1848 ; his 
name is Dow. Therefore, I take the liberty of naming this mammoth tree 
of the world, WasJiingtonia gigantea ! ! The italics are my own. Mr. 
Hovey prefaces this with : " Mr. Lobb called it the Wellingtonia, claiming 
that right, we presume, as the first discoverer of the tree. Against this 
assumption of authority in taking on the names of European heroes to the 
grandest of American trees, we seriously protested, even if Mr. Lobb did 
actually first' discover it ; and we proposed, as the proper name, should it 
prove to he a distinct genus, the only appropriate and just title to such a 
specimen of American vegetation, that of the father of his country, Washing- 
ton. After this, we hope no American at least, will adopt any other than 
our name of Washingtonia." 
It is so evident that this mode of bringing out the new genus Washingtonia, 
Hovey, is intended for Buncombe, that it would be idle to remonstrate, were 
it not for the evil impression such playfulness is apt to make on the minds 
of our botanical cousins across the channel. We want to assure them that 
Mr. Hovey does not really believe that the first discoverer of a plant claims 
the right to name it ; but that that right is only claimed and legitimately 
used by that botanist who first describes and proves by his botanical researches, 
that the plant is new. Mr. Hovey also knows, that Lindley is the Botanist 
who first described and proved its individuality from other genera ; that 
Lindley named it Wellingtonia, and that under all botanical laws Lindley 
had a perfect right to do so. Whether, or not, the name was a judicious one, 
is another question, which I, for one, am decidedly inclined to answer in the 
negative ; and I sincerely regret that any botanist should so truckle to 
political rank and social position as to disgrace the nomenclature of his 
favorite science, by associating with it the name of one, who, by no one action 
of his life, rendered the slightest service to either science or humanity. Still 
he, Lindley, was not without precedents, either in his own career or that of 
other botanists, his predecessors. His naming of another American plant the 
