UNDERSTANDING BOTANICAL NAMES OF PLANTS

 

Kerria japonica 

Names are important for

the identity of things. We

recognize each other

through our names. All

the plants have their

botanical (scientic)

names, but only a few of

them have their common

names. Common names

are easy to memorize as

they are in our own

l a n g u a g e s a n d a r e

mostly related to their

uses or peculiarities.

However, the common

names are not universal

and vary from person to person, region to region, and country to country. Any one of us can give

common names to plants for our convenience. Each plant can have several different common

names. For example, Datura stramonium (dhatura or devil's apple) has over 25 common names

in Sanskrit only, besides thousands of other names in other languages. The same common name

may refer to several distinct species. On the other hand, the scientic names are unique, based

on nomenclatural rules, and accepted worldwide. No second plant in the world can have the

same scientic name according to the rules. The rules for the botanical nomenclature of the

plants are laid down in the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants [ICN;

previously International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN)].

The scientic name of each plant is made up of two parts, a generic (or genus) epithet or name

and a specic (or species) epithet. Together, these two parts of a name are referred to as a

binomial. Two parts of a binomial are descriptive in nature and tell many things about that plant in

the name itself. A generic name is a 'collective name' for a group of plants with similar characters.

The specic name usually species certain characteristics of the plant, the place where the plant

is native, or the name of a person. The botanical names are always written with the generic name

rst, starting with a capital letter. The specic epithet always follows the generic name, starting

with a lower-case letter even when derived from a proper noun such as the name of a person or

place. The scientic name is always followed by the name of a person, who discovered and

named that plant (known as authority). The botanical names are italicized when typed or

underlined when written with hand (they were underlined when typed with a typewriter machine

earlier). Generic and specic names are in Latin or are Latinized words from other languages

(mostly from Greek). The adoption of Latin has some advantages as well as it is a dead language

and not prone to changes like English. Secondly, Latin is specic and exact in meaning and the

grammatical sense of the words is easily perceivable.

Let's take an example of a very beautiful plant Calliandra haematocephala Hassk. for

understanding botanical names. Literally, Calliandra is made up of two Greek words, Kallos

(=beautiful) and andra (= male part of a ower or stamen), meaning a plant with beautiful

stamens. Similarly, the specic epithet haematocephala is also a combination of two Greek

words, haima (= blood red) and kephale (= head or front), meaning thereby, plant with blood-red

head or front. In this name,

Hassk. is an abbreviated form

of the name of Justus Carl

H a s s k a r l ( 1 8 11 - 1 8 9 4 ) .

Authority is generally ignored

in non-scientic writings. This

plant is known by many

common names in different

parts of the world, such as red

powder-puff, powder-puff

bush, blood-red tassel ower,

calliandra, pompon, bellota,

zhu ying hua, etc.

Botanical names such as

Putranjiva roxburghii (Putrjia

or children's life tree; derived

from the Indian name of a

plant Putrjiva and father of

Indian botany Roxburgh),

Shivparvatia ciliolata (derived

from the names of Hindu God

Shiva and the Goddess

Parvati of the Himalaya),

Mangifera indica (Mango;

derived from mango bearing

plant and India), Abutilon

indicum (Indian mallow;

derived from the Arabic word for a mallow-like plant and India), Indigofera himachalensis (derived

from blue and Himachal), Festuca simlensis (specic name derived from Shimla), Nepeta

hindostana (named after Latin

w o r d f o r c a t n i p a n d

Hindustan), Canna indica

(derived from a Greek name

for a type of reed and India)

and many other plants have

Indianness in their names.

Burans or tree rhododendron

(Rhododendron arboretum), a

common tree in the Himalayan

hills, has acquired its scientic

name from its rose-coloured

owers and tree-like habit. 

The

scientic names of plants look complicated, ugly, and boring to all including the students of

botany. However, when we start going into the meanings of those names (can be checked in

dictionaries of plant names or in Botanary at Dave's Garden), they become easy and interesting.

The meanings of some common botanical names (compiled from Dictionaries of Plant Names) are

listed in the following table.

Colors of

Flowers/Foliage

Gagea lutea

• alba, albus - white
• aurantiaca - orange
• aureus - golden
• caerulea - blue
• candidus - pure white, shiny
• citrinus - yellow
• coccineus - scarlet
• discolor - two or separate
• colors
• flava, flavum - yellow
• glaucus - covered with
• gray bloom
• incana - gray, hoary
• lutea, luteus - reddish
• yellow
• nigra - black
• purpurea, purpureus -
• purple
• rosea - rose-colored
• rubra, rubrum - red
• sanguinea - blood-red
• viridis – green

Plant Shape

• arborescens - treelike
• elegans - elegant,
• slender, willowy
• erecta - upright, erect
• fruticosa - shrublike
• grandi - big
• humilis - low-growing
• pendula -drooping,
• pendulous
• prostrata, procumbens -
• prostrate
• pumilia - low-growing,
• dwarf

Plant Smell, Taste

• amara, amarus - bitter
• dulce - sweet
• foetida - foul smelling
• fragrans - fragrant
• moschata - musk odor
• odorata – scented

Leaf Form

• acerifolius - maplelike
• leaves
• lanceolata - lance-shaped
• longifolia - long-leaved
• macrophylla - largeleaved
• microphylla - smallleaved
• parvifolia, parvifolius -
• small-leaved
• palmatum - hand-shaped
• leaves
• rotundifolia - roundleaved
• salicifolius - willowlike
• leaves

Origin of Species

• alpina - alpine regions
• americana- from America
• australis - southern
• borealis - northern
• campestris - of the field
• or plains
• canadensis - from Canada
• chinensis - from China
• indica, indicus - from
• India
• insularis - of the island
• japonica, japonicum -
• from Japan
• maritima - from near the
• sea
• mexicana- from Mexico
• montana - from the
• mountains
• palustris - from marshes
• or wetlands
• saxatilis - inhabiting rocks
• 
  

Plant Peculiarities

• acaulis - stemless
• communis - common
• cordata - heart-shaped
• crispa - finely waved,
• curled
• florida, floridus -flowering
• gracilis - graceful
• grandiflora - largeflowered
• hybridus - hybrid
• incana - gray-haired
• lactea - milky
• laevis - smooth
• maculata - spotted
• majus - larger
• maxima - largest
• minor, minus - smaller
• mollis - soft and/or hairy
• multiflora - manyflowered
• nitida, nitidum - shining
• officinalis - used as
• perenne, perennis -
• perennial
• pictum - painted
• pulchella - pretty
• punctata - spotted

• repens, reptans -
• creeping
• scandens - climbing
• semperflorens -
• everblooming
• sempervirens - evergreen
• speciosa - showy
• spectabilis - spectacular
• spinarum - spiniest
• spinosus - spiny
• tomentosa, tomentosum -
• hairy
• umbellata - having
• flowers in umbels
• variegata - variegated
• villosa, villosum - softly
• hairy
• vulgaris - common