Botanical Latin:
- is the scientific way of naming plants
- is the agreed-upon way to name plants across all countries, languages, and cultures
- guarantees that each plant has only one name
- also helps us to identify which plants are similar so that we can understand them and their care a little better
What is the difference between genus and species names in Latin?
The difference between the two nomenclatures being, that in Latin plant names the genus is listed first and is always capitalized. The species (or specific epithet) follows the genus name in lowercase and the entire Latin plant name is italicized or underlined. Why Do We Use Latin Plant Names?
What are the advantages of using Latin for scientific names?
It may seem strange to use a dead language, but Latin has advantages. It is not subject to change, and it isn’t open to bias toward a certain region or language. The Latin naming system is called binomial nomenclature because it uses two terms that together can identify every plant in existence.
How do you write plant names in Latin?
Each of the two parts of the name used Latin grammatical forms. the first word is the name of the genus (see Plant Evolution and Taxonomy). It's usually in Italics and starts with a capital letter e.g. the second word is the name of the species. This is usually lower case and also expressed in italics e.g. grandiflora
What did Linnaeus use to name plants?
He used Latin forms that were commonly understood by the scientific community of his time. Before Linnaeus, formal plant names used a polynomial structure that consisted of a generic name combined with a secondary descriptive phrase.
Why are scientific names in Latin because?
Scientists started using Latin back in the Middle Ages — around the 5th century to the 15th century AD. Though people all over the world were naming organisms in different languages, Latin was used by a group of scholars in Europe.
Are all botanical names in Latin?
Note that botanical Latin is not strictly classical. Non-Latin terms can be used, but they are Latinized for consistency. For example, American plants may be descriptively named americanum. All plants are assigned two names: the genus and the species.
Why do all species have Latin names?
This system is called "binomial nomenclature." These names are important because they allow people throughout the world to communicate unambiguously about animal species.
When did plants get Latin names?
1753Carl von Linne a.k.a. Linnaeus came up with a system for naming in 1753 where each species of plant has a name which has two parts. This is called Binomial nomenclature. It's a a formal system of naming species of living things. Each of the two parts of the name used Latin grammatical forms.
Why the scientific names of plants animals etc are always in Latin or Greek words?
Latin was used as the language for scientific names because it is considered a "dead" language. This means no new words or slang are created or changed through the years. Once you know a little Latin, plant names can tell you a great deal about the plants themselves.
What language are botanical names?
Botanical LatinBotanical Latin is a technical language based on New Latin, used for descriptions of botanical taxa. Until 2012, International Code of Botanical Nomenclature mandated Botanical Latin to be used for the descriptions of most new taxa.
How are botanical names written?
Genus and species: Names should always be italicized or underlined. The first letter of the genus name is capitalized but the specific epithet is not, e.g. Lavandula angustifolia. If the meaning is clear, the generic name can be abbreviated, e.g. L. angustifolia.
Why is binomial nomenclature always in Latin?
Explanation for the correct option: Carl Linnaeus choosed Latin for the binomial nomenclature because it is a dead language. Dead languages are defined as the language that no people or nation uses it as the official language. It is helpful to be able to understand the source of scientific names.
What are the rules for writing scientific names?
3.1. 1 Scientific namesScientific names are always italicized. ... The genus is always capitalized.The species is never capitalized, even when it refers to the name of a place or person. ... In its first use within a particular document, the genus is always written in full.More items...
What Are Latin Plant names?
Unlike its common name (of which there may be several), the Latin name for a plant is unique to each plant. Scientific Latin plant names help descr...
Why Do We Use Latin Plant names?
The use of Latin plant names can be confusing to the home gardener, sometimes even intimidating. There is, however, a very good reason to use Latin...
Meaning of Latin Plant Names
For quick reference, this botanical nomenclature guide contains some of the most common meaning of Latin plant names that are found in popular gard...
What is the purpose of Latin plant names?
What is the purpose of latin plant names? A formal naming system was developed to uniquely and meaningfully identify every plant. Latinized names offer information about a plant’s classification, origins, and characteristics. This universally adopted system has rules that govern how these names are officially assigned and updated.
Why is Latin called binomial nomenclature?
The Latin naming system is called binomial nomenclature because it uses two terms that together can identify every plant in existence.
How to notate a plant's naturally occurring variation?
Plants with a naturally occurring variation can be noted by using ‘var.’ before the identifying name. This notation is for smaller distinctions than those which define a subspecies. Example: Philodendron hederaceum var. kirkbridei
What is a binomial nomenclature?
Binomial nomenclature looks (and sounds) more complicated than it actually is. The naming convention conveys information about a plant clearly and concisely. Note that botanical Latin is not strictly classical. Non-Latin terms can be used, but they are Latinized for consistency.
Why is common name so inaccurate?
Accuracy – The problem with common names is that anyone can make them up, and there’s no one keeping track. A common name in one language can refer to several unrelated plants or species, and other languages may have a different name for the same plant. Binomial nomenclature is maintained to correctly and uniquely identify every plant.
What was the formal structure of plant names?
Before Linnaeus, formal plant names used a polynomial structure that consisted of a generic name combined with a secondary descriptive phrase. Early classification efforts seem far fetched and even humorous today. Examples included grouping plants by their color, shape, or location.
Who created the binomial classification system?
The current binomial naming convention was started by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778). In his cataloging work, Species Plantarum, Linnaeus condensed plant names to a single term of classification followed by a one-word “trivial name.”.
Why are botanical names confusing?
Botanical plant names can be confusing, especially as they always seem to be changing, but learning the rules behind plant-naming conventions can be key to understanding more about plants’ origins and their preferred growing conditions. If Botanical Latin is all Greek to you (and to be honest quite a lot of it is) then let us help you sort your ...
What do all the names of plants mean?
What, if anything, do all these names actually mean? Many genus names are just, well, names, they don’t really mean anything – they are just what the plant has always been called, often since Roman times. Salvia, Malus and Rosa, for example, are what the Romans called sage, apple and various roses. Other genera may commemorate botanists or politicians, for example Fuchsia (Leonard Fuchs, a 16th-century German botanist – remembering this, by the way, will help you to spell it correctly), Grevillea (Charles Francis Greville, an 18th-century British politician and one of the founders of the Horticultural Society of London that later became the RHS) and Gunnera (Johann Ernst Gunnerus, an 18th-century Norwegian bishop and amateur botanist). Some generic names are descriptive, but often take some decoding; Galanthus, for example, is Greek for milk-flower, Aquilegia is from aquila, Latin for eagle (the spurred petals are supposed to resemble an eagle’s talons), and Gypsophila is from the Greek for chalk-lover, from a preference for chalky soils.
What are some examples of species names?
Species names, like genera, sometimes commemorate famous people. For example, Berberis darwinii, Rhododendron forrestii and Acer davidii are named for Charles Darwin and the plant hunters George Forrest and Jean Pierre Armand David respectively.
What are garden plants?
Garden plants are often cultivated varieties (‘cultivars’) selected for a particular feature, such as vigour, hardiness or flower shade, for example V. tinus ‘Eve Price’, and hybrids may also have cultivars, such as V. x bodnantense ‘Dawn’. Sometimes, especially in genera that gardeners and breeders have been messing about with for a long time, a cultivar’s history is so complex that it can no longer be referred to a species, or even a hybrid, so there’s just a genus and cultivar name, as in Rosa ‘Fragrant Delight’.
What are the names of the leaves on a Magnolia plant?
Some specific names are simply straightforward descriptions of the plant itself, as in Dryas octopetala (eight petals), Salvia microphylla (small leaves) and Magnolia grandiflora (big flowers). Colours may be obvious as in Ribes nigrum (black, in this case referring to the fruits) or not so obvious – caerulea is from the Latin for blue as in Passiflora caerulea, lutea is yellow as in Sternbergia lutea, and coccineum is scarlet as in Embothrium coccineum.
What is the formal classification of plants?
Formal plant classification is a hierarchical system with many levels, but the most important of those levels for gardeners, the one we use every day, is the genus (plural genera). Genera are basically distinct, recognisable kinds of plant, and in many cases the genus name is also the common name. Whenever you talk about rhododendron, iris, crocus, ...
What is the rule of priority for plant names?
According to the rule of priority, that name is the first one ‘validly published’ (usually these days in a scientific journal, or a magazine such as this) since 1 May 1753, which is when Carl Linnaeus started the whole system, giving every plant then known a Latin binomial, that is a genus and species name. Technically, a name is only complete if accompanied by an authority, that is whoever gave the plant its name. Authority names are usually abbreviated, so for example Linnaeus becomes L.
Why do plants have Latin names?
Plants have Latin names because Latin was the international language of science when systems for naming plants were first formalised. Botanical Latin is a major challenge for many botanical artists and illustrators. Common reasons are: they've never ever studied Latin.
What is the botanical dictionary?
Welcome to Botanary, the Botanical Dictionary - Welcome to Botanary, the Botanical Dictionary (A blended word, derived from the phrase "botanical dictionary".) Botanical Latin - Basics - basics of learning Botanical Latin, with plant pictures to help make learning easier and fun.
What is the ending of the second word in a botanical name?
The ending of the second word in the name depends on whether the Botanical Latin name for the first word is masculine or feminine. However a botanical plant name can also have three parts. These are. one part only - genus and above.
What is botanical nomenclature?
Botanical nomenclature - the formal, scientific naming of plants. Botanical name - this is the formal and scientific name of a plant which conform to the relevant International Code for Nomenclature. Epithet (taxonomy) - An epithet in taxonomic nomenclature is a word or phrase ( epithet) in the name of an organism.
How many parts does a botanical plant have?
However a botanical plant name can also have three parts. These are
What is the second word of a plant?
the second word is the name of the species. This is usually lower case and also expressed in italics e.g. grandiflora. the second word is also called the epithet and it modifies the first word. In effect it describes in more detail the characteristics of the individual and specific plant belonging to the genus.
What is the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants?
The International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP, Cultivated Plant Code) covers all the Rules and Recommendations for naming plants in cultivation. The end result is the The International Plant Names Index (IPNI). It is produced and published due to a formal collaboration between three institutions -.
What does learning Latin tell you about a plant?
Margaret: Yeah, so as I said, learning Latin can tell you a lot about the plant being described. The plant you’re looking at, the plant you’re working with or considering buying. It can be physical traits, it can be stories about its origin, where it’s native to maybe, or the kind of environment.
How many plants are there in the botanical dictionary?
Margaret Roach: Yeah, so what an undertaking, this encyclopedia. More than 2,000 plants, 5,000 entries, or terms, and hundreds of beautiful botanical illustrations.
Why is it called Potentilla fruticosa?
It’s a shrub. And so, it’s called Potentilla fruticosa because it’s the only potentilla that really develops into a woody shrub.
What genus is daylily?
As I began doing this as a kid, I would say names in all sorts of different ways. So, one of the ones I used to mispronounce was the daylilies genus, Hemerocallis, but then when I grew up and started speaking to people about it, I realized that everybody actually called it Hemerocallis.
What was the age of plant exploration?
You mentioned sailors a minute ago, and so this from the early 18th century onward was the age of plant exploration. It wasn’t just Europe where he was, it was people were bringing things in from other places, and there were unknown things. So, different people would be communicating with people in other countries.
Why do I hesitate to use Latin names?
I love Latin Names! I sometimes hesitate to use them around some friends because I don’t want to sound like a know-it-all. However, if you really want to buy/trade/sell a plant, you need the latin name, or, you will not be talking about the same thing.
Where did the prickly pear cactus come from?
And it’s not uncommon. So, for example, if you’re familiar with the prickly pear cactus? The prickly pear cactus is called Opuntia, and opuntia came from Greek, and it meant a spiny plant from the city of Opus. Opus was a city in ancient Greece, and you don’t get prickly pears there because prickly pears comes from the Americas. And yet they thought, “Well, it’s a spiny plant, that will do, or give that to the prickly pear chaps.”
Where did the scientific name come from?
The scientific names or binomial names were derived either from Latin language or latinised. This is because Latin language is dead language and therefore, it will not change in form or spelling with passage of time.
Why is Latin not changing?
This is because Latin language is dead and, therefore, it will not change in form or spelling with the passage of time.
What is the science of classifying life?
In taxonomy, the science of classifying life, scientists use what is known as binomial nomenclature, giving names which consist of two parts; first is the genus, followed by the specific name.
Why is Latin called a hold over?
This is because Latin is a hold over from the times when scholars communicated in this tongue. (hold over means to remain beyond the expected time). In order to distinguish each kind of organism in language that is precise, uniform and understable to investigators throughput the world, a formal system of Latin nomenclature is used.
What is the first word of a scientific name?
The first word is the “Genus” and second word is the “species”. While writing genus first letter is capital and while writing the species first letter is small. The scientific name is typed in italics, e.g., Moringa oleifera, for drumstick.
Why is it important to name organisms scientifically?
The concept of naming scientifically was because there were different names for an organism in different languages, in different places and it was difficult to identify the particular organism. And so scientists thought of giving a unique name to each organism scientifically and that will be the name used worldwide.
What is a creeping black and white flower called?
Secondly, what someone in your neck of the woods might call "stink weed" might be called "skunk vine" in another town, while "skunk vine" might refer to a creeping black and white flower someplace else. Common names are only common to certain areas. Think about how many people call it "pop" and how many call it "soda." Ask for soda in France and you might get soda water instead of Pepsi.
