0 
/ v 
’ 1 \. *** 
as knowledge increases, indeed to be maintained and built upon, 
end as yet, they touch only the fringe of Tamil and Chinese 
„ * 
vocabularies* Moreover, it is known, and it is inevitable, 
f 
that through mistakes in the collecting, labelling, and identi¬ 
fication of specimens, many recorded names have been assigned 
to the wrong plants* I am sure that anyone who has studied 
the subject will agree that at least seventy per cent, of the 
* 
recorded names must be carefully checked. Some of the mis- 
. ,|W- <g • i. v J , '• i ' 
takes we can rectify at the Botanical Gardens because the 
labelled specimens, dating from 1870 onwards, are preserved 
in the herbarium, but by no means all* Those specimens are the true 
foundation of any index of vernacular names, because they are 
always at hand for reference; and therefore, we are trying 
to o'tAarye our collection of plant specimens with authentic 
vernacular names. There must be several listeners to-night 
t 
who can help in this task, I know there are many popular 
names of plants used among the various communities in Malaya 
of which we have no record and which we Yiould like to render 
current as common knowledge, for many will fill troublesome 
gaps in our nomenclature. A few years ago, when I was takirg 
* 
classes in Nature Study for teachers in Singapore, I learned 
too how important it was to have English names for use in the 
« * 
English Schools. That, I Y:as told, was, of course. Old 
ladies* Nightcaps; and I, poor academician, Joist: it only as 
* r* 
Angelonia. Then we found Good Girls and Naughty Boys and I 
dared not say it was really Asystasia coromandeliana in its 
* — - • 
two varieties. I have always remembered Evoe*s quip in Punch, 
when he v r as relating of a round of golf with a botanist. 
"And that" said the botanist, "is Ranunculus ficaria , the 
lesser Celandine, 1 * "Ha! said Evoe, Ficus, a fig! Do men 
gather figs of the Lesser Celandine?"' On another occasion, 
