July 3. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
241 
as the absurdity of the pronunciation became felt, its spelling 
had to give way, and to appear as Nemo’phila. And now, 
of course, people are obliged to cast about for some 
monstrous derivation to support a monstrous word. Many 
others of the same kind might be found; but this is, per¬ 
haps, one of the best samples of the effects of arbitrary pro¬ 
nunciation.—H. G. M.” 
The writer of this communication tells us that he is a 
clergyman, and an amateur gardener; therefore he will feel 
sorry to hear that every word he has here written about the 
Nemo’phila is the reverse of the truth. 
I am responsible for all the derivations of the names of 
genera in The Cottage Gardeners’ Dictionary. I have 
manufactured a good many of them myself, and I took more 
pains with the rest than most people would believe. My 
knowledge of the language of science is as thin as air, com¬ 
pared with that of learned men ; but it seems as if learning, 
without some practical knowledge of the subject, is as bad 
as little or no learning. Long practice, instead of “ much 
learning,” enables ray eye and ear to detect false quantities 
and false accentuation in the names of plants ; and the first 
glance at the above paragraph enabled me to see that “H. 
G. M.” was out of his depth, and knew very little of the 
subject on which he wrote; and I challenge the writer to 
prove a single word of what he states about Nemo'phila. 
Singularly enough, there is a small error in the heading 
of Nemo'phila in the Dictionary, and I suppose I must father 
it; but it escaped the notice of “ H. G. M.,” at least he did 
not point to it. I allude to the words, “ from an erroneous 
idea of their place of growth.” The “idea” was not errone¬ 
ous; but it strikes me that the “idea” prat “ H. G. M.” on 
the wrong scent, that he thought it “ erroneous,” and there¬ 
fore went into those strange errors himself endeavouring to 
put it right. 
I recollect the very day on which Nemo'phila insignis, from 
which we gardeners took to the genus, made its appearance 
in print. It was on the first of Oct., 1834, and from that 
day to this, no one here in England, or on the Continent, or 
in America, has ever altered a single letter of the name, 
that is, in print, bearing the authority of evidence, and with¬ 
out such alteration the accent could not be changed by rule. 
The accent, in fact, has never been changed at all, except, 
perhaps, in some trade list or catalogue; but such are not 
works of authority for botanical terms; such lists could not 
be meant by “ H. G. M.,” as “divers fine ladies who laid the 
accent on the second syllable;” but I protest against that 
kind of insinuation, for I have been too long on the turf not 
to know that ladies are far more accurate in their pronunci¬ 
ation of these names than gentleman who have not studied 
the subject. 
So far for assertions ; but having challenged “ H. G. M.” 
for proof, I must, in fairness, produce my own, and here \ 
they are:— 
A respectable episcopal clergyman, Barton by name, who 
lived in Pennsylvania, was an amateur gardener, and he had , 
a son who was born in 1760. Fourteen years afterwards, the I 
clergyman died, and left his son as poor as a gardener's son; ' 
but by perseverance and well-doing the young man got up 
in the world, and for the last six and-twenty years of his life, 
he was Professor of Botany in the University of Philadelphia, 
also Professor of Materia Medica, and President of the ) 
Philadelpdiia Medical Society. Dr. Barton, at his private 
charge, “ sent out,” first, Pursh, and after him Nutall, to ex¬ 
plore the hidden flora of North and North West America, 
and one of their finest discoveries is called Bartonia, after 
their liberal patron. Another of their new plants was called 
Nemo'phila phacillioides, by Dr. William Barton, nephew to 
the first professor, who succeeded him in 1815, and who 
published a Flora of North America, between 1821 and 1824. 
In this Flora, Nemo'phila first appears in print, plate 61, 
just as it is at this very day. 
In 1822, the new Nemo'phila appeared in England, first 
with John Walker, Esq., Southgate, and next with Mr. Bar¬ 
clay, of Bury Hill. Mr. Walker’s plant was figured by Dr. 
Sims, in the Botanical Magazine, plate 2373, and the Bury 
Hill one was figured by Rr. Bindley, in the Botanical Register 
for 1823, plate 740. Nuttall suggested the name to Dr. 
Barton “ from its predilection for shady woods, in which 
places only it is found,” and Dr. Lindley gave the meaning 
of the derivation, or etymon, in the place aforesaid, just as I 
repeated it in the Cottage Gardeners’ Dictionary. 
The next Nemo'phila was parviftora, in 1826 ; but before 
then, Dr. Brown had set the limits of Nemo'phila , and parvi- 
jlora had to be excluded, because the private marks would 
not tally with the “ limits.” 
Nemo’phila aurita, with little purplish flowers, was the 
next, and the first of them, from California, by Douglass; it 
was figured in the Botanical Register for 1833, plate 1601, 
where it is said, to “requite a damp shady border; if sown 
in a place exposed to the sun it withers up and perishes.” 
Nemo'phila insignis is the next, and was named by Mr. 
Bentham, the most exact botanist in Europe, and by him is 
described in the Transactions of the Horticultural Society, 
new series, page 640. 
Nemo'phila atomaria was the next, in order of time. The 
Horticultural Society received it from Dr. Fischer of the 
Imperial Garden at St. Petersburg!), who had it from the 
North West coast of America, through the Russian settle¬ 
ments there; and Nemo'phila maculata was the last. This 
was a discovery by Mr. Hartweg, who named it speciosa, a 
name which Mr. Bentham thought objectionable, and he 
cancelled it, and named it maculata, and there is a figure of 
it in the Journal of the Horticultural Society for 1848, 
page 320. 
From 1822, to the time I was engaged on the derivations 
and affinities of genera for the “Dictionary,” Nemo'phila went 
through the hands of half-a-dozen learned and practical 
botanists; but still it was kept as pure and simple as it came 
from the hands of Dr. Barton. 
I shall now wait for “ II. G. M.’s ” proofs of this and the 
other errors in the “ Dictionary,” he alludes to; for if such 
there be, nothing would give me more pleasure than to thank 
him for pointing them out, that I might correct them. 
D. Beaton. 
A clergyman, whose initials happen to be the same as 
Mr. Beaton’s, writes as follows:— 
“ It would be difficult to crowd a greater number of mis¬ 
takes into the same compass than has been done by your 
correspondent “ H. G. M.”, at page 211 of the Cottage Gar¬ 
dener, in his criticism on the spelling of the word Nemo’- 
! phi la. 
I “ With all due deference to his Greek and Latin learning, 
permit me to suggest to him that vepos is a Greek word sig¬ 
nifying “ pasture,” or even “ grove.” 
“ That even if the derivation of the word were from vepu 
and <pl\\ov , the accent of the compound would still properly 
be on the antepenult, and not, as he supposes, on the penult, 
That the name was given to the genus by Nuttal, adopted 
by Barton, and all botanists, (as Bentham, Endlicher, De 
Candolle, Dietrich, &c. That it was published in this country 
at least as early as 1823 by Sims, in Yol. 50 of the “Botanical 
Magazine.” And that by all has the word been invariably 
spelt, as no doubt it ought to be, Nemo'phila, being derived 
from j ’egos a grove and <pi\e<a to love. D. B.” 
OXFORD—THE THOUGHTS AND MEMORIES 
IT RECALLED. 
Hail Oxona! Rare old town ! I love your old-world 
features ; my mind seems to expaud each time I view your 
ancient colleges and time-worn fanes; my silent feelings 
gather enthusiasm and strength, and warm towards those 
pioneers pointing upwards to a better country. 
Well, a favourable reply being given to my ^inquiry,— 
“ Might I trouble you to take charge of this umbrella ? ” I 
was off to the Flower Show. 
An umbrella is an excellent contrivance in its way, par¬ 
ticularly when one’s best hat is put in requisition on a day 
that looks suspicious for rain; but never, my young garden¬ 
ing friends, take such construction to a flower show, if you 
are intent on taking notes, and placing your observations 
upon paper. 
Arrived at Trinity College, at one of the side entrances, 
opposite Wadham College, I procure my ticket, pass, and 
deposit myself withinside, in the centre of the middle 
entrance, and facing the broad paved way which leads up to 
