COMMON NAMES FOR PLANTS 
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2. The same • common name is so often applied to different 
species, even in the same locality, that the application in any par- 
ticular case leaves one in doubt as to the species intended. A 
“jack-oak” may be any oak, especially of the black-oak group, 
for which the user has no other name; the “nut-pine” may, be 
any one of a dozen or more species; the “blue-bell” may be a 
Polemonium, a Mertensia, or a Campanula; the “crocus” may 
be a true Crocus, but it is quite as likely to be Anemone patens 
var., or Trillium nivale; the “cow-slip” may be a Caltha, or a 
Dodecatheon; the “honey-suckle” may be a Lonicera, an Azalea, 
or an Aquilegia; “Indian-tobacco” is Lobelia inflata to the phar- 
macist, but any species of Antennaria to almost everyone else; 
“beggar’s-lice” may include almost anything from a Lappula or 
Cynoglossum to Sanicula, Circaea, and Agrimonia, if only the 
fruit is a little bur, and in the east it may mean a Bidens; the 
“horse-weed” may be Ambrosia trifida, Brigeron canadense, or 
Iva xanthiifolia; “dog-fennel” is a Marut a in the north, and a 
Helenium ip the south ; the “adder’s-tongue” in one locality is an 
Brythronium, and in another an Ophioglossum; the “Christmas- 
f ern” to some is a Lygodium and to others a Polystichum ; and so 
on through a long list. 
The claim that the common name is “easier” than the scientific 
name does not always hold true. Few people hesitate to designate 
some of our cultivated plants by such names as Chrysanthemum, 
Gladiolus, Zinnia, Amaryllis, Narcissus, Asparagus, Spiraea, 
Catalpa, Salvia, Canna, Begonia, Cosmos, Dahlia, Crocus, etc., 
and certain native or cultivated plants by such names as Ver- 
bena, Phlox, Hydrangea, Anemone, Aster, Clematis, Yucca, He- 
patica. Lobelia, Iris, Oxalis, Sassafras, Trillium, etc., yet every 
one of these names is the scientific name of a genus, and there 
are many more like them. In a few cases even the scientific 
specific name is used as a common name, as in the case of oleander 
{Nerium oleander) ; Japonica {Cydonia japonica) ; and calamus 
(Acorus calamus). 
In many cases the common name is but a slight modification 
of the scientific name, either by the addition of a qualifying ad- 
jective, or by a slight change in spelling, as illustrated by the 
following cases: sweet alyssum (Alyssum) ; perennial phlox 
{Phlox) ; showy orchis {Orchis) ; gentian {Gentiana) ; rose 
{Rosa) ; tulip {Tulipa) ; lily {Lilium) ; lupine {Lupinus) ; saxi- 
frage {Saxifraga) ; peony {Paeonia) ; and many others. 
Not infrequently, moreover, the scientific name of one species 
