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Gardener’s Latin
Mrs. Pike, My high school Latin teacher, tried really hard to make Latin interesting. We even read Winnie the Pooh in Latin, but after two years I decided that I had been tortured enough and just said “no” to learning a dead language. Little did I know that later in life I would really learn to appreciate Latin as a way of naming plants that is logical and precise. Anywhere you go in the world, the name of a plant is the same – if you use Latin.
Many gardeners shy away from Latin in the garden as I did in the classroom. But it does make one feel a bit smug knowing that Rudbeckia is the botonist’s name for black-eyed Susan, and that Echinacea purpurea is the name for purple cone flower. And learning a few Latin names this winter will increase your stature in your local garden club.
Let’s take a look at how the system of names works. The system we use is called binomial nomenclature. Up until the mid 1700’s plant and animals often had long descriptive names that varied from country to country. Then Carl von Linné, a Swedish scientist who also called himself Linnaeus (a Latinized version of Linné) created a simple and consistent system for naming living things, both plants animals. Each organism was given a genus name and a species name.
Linnaeus used two words for each organism. The first, called the genus (plural = genera), the second word in the name is the species. The genus is capitalized, but the species is not, even if it is derived from a name that is capitalized. So canadensis, for example, indicates the plant comes from Canada, or northern regions but is not capitalized. Both genus and species names are italicized.
Each genus (with the exception of Ginko and maybe a couple of others) includes more than one species. The scientific name of maple, for example, is Acer and includes at least 51 species, all with resemblances to each other, primarily in regard to their reproductive parts. When referring to Acer species in print, it is customary to abbreviate the name to the first letter after it has been spelled out once (A. palmatum, for example). Acer spp. Refers to all Acer species.
Knautia macedonia
Pronunciation of scientific names is easy. Just pronounce all the letters you see as you would in English. (Darn it, as soon as I write that, the flower Knautia macedonia, a wonderful purple long-blooming flower, comes to mind and the “K” is not spoken. But you knew that). And it is better to refer to “scientific” names than Latin names, as some names come from the Greek, place names or names of scientists. If you find a new species, you can name it after yourself.
Some scientific names are the same as the common names. Clematis, Delphinium and Hydrangea come to mind. Rosa for rose is pretty close. Many species names give you a clue about the looks or habits of a plant if you know the Latin word. So, for example, any plant with a species name recumbens or prostrata will indicate a plant that is low-growing. Any tree with nana as a species is tiny, like my grandmother, whom we called Nana.
Let’s learn a few scientific genus names.
Trees
Acer = maple
Berberis = barberry
Betula = birch
Cornus = dogwood
Fagus = beech
Fraxinus = ash
Juniperus = juniper
Malus = apple
Quercus = oak
Salix = willow
Flowers
Allium = onion, allium
Aster = aster
Dicentra = bleeding heart
Geranium = Crane’s bill
Heuchera = Coral bells
Lavendula = lavender
Narcissus = daffodil, narcissus, jonquil
Pennisetum = fountain grass
Salvia = salvia, sage
Solidago = goldenrod
Some of those names you already recognized, or see the resemblance to English names. Genus names rarely give much of a clue as to the characteristics of a plant unless you know some of the others in it. But species names are much better clues. Let’s look at a few complete scientific names: Symphtum rubrum tells me that something about this plant is red, probably the flowers (they are). Tagetes erecta tells me that the plant (a marigold) stands straight up. A plant with the species name pendula is a weeping plant, with branches hanging down. A book that translates a few hundred species names is Gardener’s Latin: Discovering the Origins, Lore & Meanings of Botanical Names by Bill Neal. (Algonquin Books, 1992).
Learn a few latin names
There’s not too much to do in the garden just now, so go exploring. Get out a book or go on line and learn a few scientific names. It’s fun, it’s easy, and it will keep your brain from atrophying. Not all nice plants have English names, and you wouldn’t want to avoid a plant for that, would you? And Mrs. Pike will be proud of me.