Latin or Common: The Naming of Plants, Part 2

Continuing the overview of naming plants.

Oenothera macrocarpa
Item # 72150 		Oenothera macrocarpa
Missouri Evening Primrose

each $7.99
3 to 6 $7.79
7 or more $7.59
  • Topic: Gardening for Beginners
  • Author: Cindy Bellinger
  • Keywords: plants, Latin, name, common name, Other
  • Date: December 2003

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The first part of this article is available here.

In continuing with plant names, an interesting tidbit about Carl Linnaeus came my way this week. His given Swedish name was Carl von Linne, but he was so taken with assigning Latin names to plants that he also changed his own to be more Latin. The guy must have been totally into it.

Imagine what he would have done if he’d been able to see better.

The history of naming of plants parallels the development of optics. As viewing smaller and smaller particles of the world was made possible, more information became available.

The ancient Egyptians were the first to start polishing rock crystals for convex lenses; and over the centuries eyeglasses, the telescope then the microscope were invented. In the late 1600s the first cells were seen, then the first bacteria. Inventions continued but it wasn’t until the 1800s when the microscope finally came into its own. (It wasn’t until 1941 that microscopes were manufactured commercially.)

So in the 1700s Linnaeus’ view was limited. Still, he made headway and his work remains the foundation of plant classification. It’s an evolving science and remains strong as more plants are discovered and named. What’s interesting, though, is finer viewing was supposed to make things simpler. Instead; things got more complicated. Get used to calling one plant something and next thing you know it’s changed.

For example, Talinum calycinum (Flame Flower) changed a few years ago to Phemeranthus calycinum (Flame Flower).

David Salman, president of Santa Fe Greenhouses, says, “DNA analysis is being used to more exactly establish plant relationships. Sometimes genus names are changed [as the one above] and sometimes species are changed.”

An example is Oenothera macrocarpa (Missouri Evening Primrose), which once was Oenothera missouriensis.

“The name for Chamisa (Chrysothamnus) has even changed,” says Salman. “But I’ve ignored it.”

As classification becomes more refined though, the book Linnaeus published in 1758, “Species Plantarum” continues to remain the basis for plant naming. It’s the beauty of logic that holds. For example, let’s take Agastache rupestris. Agastache comes from ‘agan’, meaning very much; and ‘stache’ comes from ‘stachys’, meaning spike. And you know the plant has a lot of spikes. Rupestris comes from rupestris, and refers to “of the cliffs” which is its native habitat.

Then not all names come from Latin; Greek is also used. But no matter which language, word endings tell more about a plant.

Words ending with—folius describes the leaves—florus describes the flowers—caulis describes the stems—carus describes the fruit—carpa describes the seed

...and plants that are compactus will stay small columnaris will be vertical

Three helpful books are:

  • Gardener’s Latin, Bill Neal (Algoquin Books, 1992)
  • Dictionary of Plant Names, Allen J. Coombes (Timber Press, 1995)
  • Botanical Latin, William T. Stern (Timber Press, April 2004)

With so much of English also based on Latin, it’s really only a matter of putting aside our resistance to become familiar with the scientific names. It just makes the world of plants that much more accessible.