112 NATIVE FLOWERS OF VICTORIA. 
the flower: thus — longiflora, means a long flower, as 
compared with others of the genus, and parviflora, 
means small-flowered. 
TEIFOLIATE: The termination “foliate,” or a similar one, 
shows that the name describes the leaf of the plant: 
thus, “trifoliate” means three leaves or leaflets; and 
“ longif olia, ” long-leaved. This is a Latin term. 
MONOPHTLLA: The termination “phylla, ” or a similar 
one, shows that the name, which is a Greek one, des- 
cribes the leaf also: thus, “mono ’’phylla means a single 
leaf; aphylla, without leaves. 
MELANOXYLON: The terminal “oxylon” or “xylon” 
means wood; and the melanoxylon means blackwood. 
PLANT NAMES: The names of plants are given in Greek 
and Latin, because these are the languages of students 
of all countries, and thus a botanical name is recog- 
nised by a botanist, no matter to what nation he be- 
longs. While common names can only be applied to a 
specific language; and a plant would require a common 
name for each language and dialect of the globe. 
The personal name which is usually given after the 
scientific name of a plant, is that of the botanist who 
published a description of the plant under that name. 
The Plant Names Committee of the Field Naturalist’s 
Club of Victoria is doing good work in preparing a 
standard list of common names for all plants, and 
already several very comprehensive lists have been 
issued. 
