NEJA GRACILIS. 
SLENDER NEJA. 
Class. Order. 
SVNGENESIA. SDPERFLCA. 
Natural Order. 
COMPOSITE. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
Mexico. 
1 foot. 
Aug. Sept. 
Perennial. 
in 1828. 
No. 393. 
It does not often fall to our lot to publish a 
generic name which is acknowledged, by its author, 
to have no other meaning than the name of a plant. 
We are so much in the habit of looking for deriva- 
tions that the question naturally arises — why did 
Mr. David Don, the originator of the term Neja, 
make choice of these four identical letters, to form 
a non-descript name? The word being wholly un- 
like the comprehensive Greek pollysyllabic terms, 
we are reduced to the extremity of Mr. Dodd, 
with his text “ Malt,” — to consider its letters, which, 
in true English mean jane, most probably a female 
friend of Mr. Don ; and this apart from all jocu- 
larity, is the only origin we can divine. 
If that name be best which in no degree charac- 
terizes the genus it represents, the same will hold 
good with specific names, for confusion may attach 
even to Mr. Don’s adopted one, gracilis, by a more 
slender species being hereafter discovered. 
We are aware that some modern botanists advo- 
cate the use of unmeaning words, as generic names. 
This preference has, doubtless, arisen out of the 
misapplication of old appellations. They have been 
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