Part 89. The linnaean reform in terminology. Being thoroughly familiar with the botanical writings of his predecessors, and endowed with a fine sense of fitness in language, Linnaeus was able to choose the best terms which had come into use, define them in a convenient way, and add others so far as necessary. The publication of this carefully prepared vocabulary gave the necessary material for making botanical description henceforward an art, while in his systematic writings Linnaeus left examples of the art, well calculated to serve as models of excellence. In describing a plant his ideal was to state all that was necessary and nothing that was unnecessary to distinguish it from all other plants.

Since the time of Linnaeus, botanical terminology has been enriched and improved in various ways to meet the needs which have arisen with wider knowledge; but the art of describing plants still remains very largely what its first great master made it. Pictures are no longer deemed necessary to make up for vagueness of description; when it is possible to use them, their scientific value is much increased because what they lack may be supplied in words, and the significance of what is represented can be made plain. Indeed, to one familiar with the terms used, a complete botanical description calls up so clear a mental picture of each part described, that a drawing sufficiently accurate for recognition might often be made even though no specimen of the plant had ever been seen. Surely this is a triumph such as ordinary language has never attained.