{"id":1155,"date":"2016-06-02T20:31:16","date_gmt":"2016-06-03T00:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vnps.org\/potowmack\/?page_id=1155"},"modified":"2020-10-19T19:53:48","modified_gmt":"2020-10-19T23:53:48","slug":"botanic-names-theyre-a-real-zoo","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vnps.org\/potowmack\/botanic-names-theyre-a-real-zoo\/","title":{"rendered":"Botanic Names: They&#8217;re A Real Zoo!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">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\u2019 common names, others aren\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">So <i>Elephantopus<\/i> really is from the Greek for \u201cElephant\u2019s Foot\u201d (some tropical species have very large leaves), <i>Chenopodium <\/i>really means \u201cGoosefoot\u201d in Greek and <i>Chelone <\/i>for the genus of Turtleheads is derived from the Greek for \u201ctortoise.\u201d <i>Geranium <\/i>comes from the Greek <i>geranos<\/i> meaning \u201ccrane,\u201d and many geraniums are commonly called \u201cCranesbills\u201d for their long, pointed seedpods. <i>Equisetum<\/i> comes from Latin <i>equus<\/i> (horse) and <i>seta<\/i> (bristle), close enough to \u201cHorsetail.\u201d \u201cAdder\u2019s Tongue\u201d fern is a good translation of <i>Ophioglossum:<\/i> Greek <i>ophis<\/i> (serpent) <i>glossa<\/i> (tongue) \u2013 for the shape of its fertile frond? And the specific epithet of <i>Matteuccia struthiopteris<\/i> does indeed translate from the Greek to \u201cOstrich Fern.\u201d <i>Coreopsis<\/i> species are sometimes called \u201cTickseeds\u201d and the genus name translates that way: Greek <i>coris<\/i> (bug) and <i>opsis<\/i> (appearing), for the shape of the seeds. <i>Hieracium<\/i>, the genus of Hawkweed, comes from the Greek <i>hierax<\/i> (hawk), because some European species was used in ancient times to improve eyesight.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">But sometimes the common and botanic names don\u2019t match. \u201cColumbine\u201d comes from the Latin for dove, while its genus name <i>Aquilegia<\/i> comes from Latin for eagle. I don\u2019t see an eagle\u2019s talons in its spurred flowers myself, but someone did. Where we see softly furry Pussytoes, the botanic name <i>Antennaria<\/i> sees insect antennae in its pappus (modified calyx pieces at the top of the seed in composites). <i>Echium vulgare<\/i> is Viper\u2019s Bugloss: Greek <i>echis<\/i> (viper) for its nutlets shaped like viper\u2019s heads, but \u201cBugloss\u201d is itself from Greek <i>bous<\/i> (ox) and <i>glossa<\/i> (tongue) for the shape of the leaves. Larkspurs are in the genus <i>Delphinium, <\/i>named for dolphins.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Then there are botanic names whose animal connections have no echo in their common names. Forget-me-not is <i>Myosotis scorpioides<\/i>: Greek <i>myos<\/i> (mouse) <i>otis<\/i> (ear) and the inflorescence unfurls like a scorpion\u2019s tail. <i>Ipomoea<\/i> for the genus of Morning Glories also comes from Greek: <i>ips<\/i> (worm) and <i>homoios<\/i> (resembling) for its twining habit. Buttercups\u2019 genus of <i>Ranunculus<\/i> comes from the Latin for \u201clittle frog\u201d because many of them grow in wet places.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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\u2019 common names, others aren\u2019t. So Elephantopus really is from the Greek for \u201cElephant\u2019s Foot\u201d (some&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18589,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"tpl-sidebar.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1155","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Botanic Names: They&#039;re A Real Zoo! - VNPS Potowmack Chapter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/vnps.org\/potowmack\/botanic-names-theyre-a-real-zoo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Botanic Names: They&#039;re A Real Zoo! - VNPS Potowmack Chapter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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. 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