6 
PHARMACEUTICAL BOTANY 
jective. Specific names taken from names of persons should always 
begin with a capital. 
Names of varieties are applied in three different ways. Either 
the name of the species is given and followed by the prefix var. 
before the varietal name, as Chenopodium ambrosioides var. anthel- 
minticum ; or the varietal name may be appended to the name of the 
species, as Chenopodium ambrosioides anthelminticum) or the varietal 
name may be placed immediately after the name of the genus and 
the specific name dropped, as Chenopodium anthelminticum. 
It frequently happens that a botanist is careless in naming a species, 
and, without ascertaining whether the same name has been assigned 
to another species, applies it to his, thus causing duplication. For 
example, there are two distinct species of plants named Prunus 
virginiana, one of these, the Wild Black Cherry, the other, the Choke 
Cherry. In this instance the name Prunus virginiana does not tell 
us which species the writer or speaker refers to. It might be the 
Choke Cherry named 11 Prunus virginiana ” by Linnaeus or the Wild 
Black Cherry named 11 Prunus virginiana ” by Miller at a later date. 
Accordingly, it is necessary to add to the name of the species the 
author’s name. Thus, Prunus virginiana Linne refers to the Choke 
Cherry while Prunus virginiana Miller refers to the Wild Black 
Cherry. In this connection it is customary to abbreviate the name 
of the author thus, L. for Linne, Mill, for Miller, Ait. for Aiton, 
Loisel. for Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, or Tourn. for Tournefort. 
Whenever a plant is transferred from one genus to another, it 
must retain its original specific name, unless the genus to which it 
is transferred already possesses a species with that name, in which 
case a new specific name must be given it. Moreover, the name of 
the botanist who assigned the original specific name but placed it 
under a different genus must be placed in parenthesis between the 
specific name and the name of the botanist who later connects it 
with another genus. For example, we read as the official definition 
for Purging Cassia in the National Formulary IV—“The dried fruit 
of Cathartocarpus Fistula (Linne) Persoon.” The significance of the 
name Linne in parenthesis is that he had previously given the specific 
name Fistula to the plant indicated but placed it under a different 
genus, which genus happened to be Cassia. Therefore Persoon, 
