Botanic names – so important to a complete understanding of plants! Potowmack Chapter member, Margaret Chatham, has written an educational and entertaining series of articles to illuminate the subject.<\/p>\n
<\/b>Some plants’ botanic names note activity at an unexpected time. So our Black Cherries that bloom and fruit later than cultivated cherries are named Prunus serotina (Prunus: Latin for plum; serotina: late) … Read more<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/b>Botanic or Latin names: love them or hate them, you can’t get away from them. But learning a few translations can make them a lot easier to remember, and may add to your understanding of the plants named. I love the way that once I can identify a new (to me) plant, I start seeing it all over. My level of knowledge definitely shapes what I see … Read more<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Well, not all<\/i>, but while we often speak of botanic names as \u201cLatin names,\u201d they are derived from many sources, and\u00a0 <\/span>Greek is well-represented. So for example twinleaf is Jeffersonia diphylla<\/i> for Jefferson’s plant with two (di) leaves (phylla) …\u00a0Read more\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Many plants’ specific epithets describe their leaves, ending in folia (leaf in Latin) or phylla (leaf in Greek). We may immediately recognize the broad-leafedness of plants named “latifolia.” Typha latifolia<\/i> is common cattail; Kalmia latifolia<\/i> is mountain laurel … \u00a0Read more<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Or at least some plants are named after other plants. Specific epithets (the second words of binomial names) that end in \u201coides\u201d often call attention to similarities to another genus of plants. So Acer platanoides<\/i> (Norway Maple) is named after the Sycamore genus Platanus<\/i> … Read more<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n How many words does a botanist have to say a plant is hairy? Canescent, ciliate, hirsute, hispid, lanate, pillose, pubescent, tomentose, villose: this is not a complete list, and most of these can be modified – but to take these in alphabetical order:\u00a0… Read more<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n A wide variety of animals find their way into the botanic names of familiar plants, sometimes because of a similar shape or appearance, sometimes because of the way the plants were used. Some of these are echoed in the plants’ common names, …\u00a0Read more<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The Greek word “echinos<\/i>” is sometimes translated as “hedgehog,” sometimes as “sea urchin.” Either way you look at it, where the word occurs in botanic names, look for a flower group or seed head that is round and prickly … Read more<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Our English word \u201cpanic\u201d goes back to Pan, the goat-footed Greek god of nature, so I had always thought that the grasses of the genus Panicum shared that derivation. By extension, I thought the term “panicle” … Read more<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nBOTANIC NAMES: Made a Little Less Mysterious<\/span><\/h4>\n
BOTANIC NAMES: They’re All Greek To Me<\/span><\/h4>\n
BOTANIC NAMES: The Leaves Have It<\/span><\/h4>\n
BOTANIC NAMES: Some of these plants are like one another; some of these plants are kind of the same<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n
BOTANIC NAMES: A Hairy Subject<\/span><\/h4>\n
BOTANIC NAMES: They’re a Real Zoo<\/span><\/h4>\n
BOTANIC NAMES:\u00a0<\/span>Hedgehogs or Sea Urchins?<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n
BOTANIC NAMES:\u00a0<\/span>Panic!<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n
BOTANIC NAMES:\u00a0<\/span>On the (Leaf) Edge<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n