Naming Plants: Botanical Nomenclature

Common name vs. Botanical name

There are two ways of naming plants. First, using the common name of each plant. Second, botanical name. Often, we encounter a plant with two written names. Usually, one of them is in parentheses. If that’s the case, one is a common name, and the other is a botanical name which is usually written in Latin. Is having two kinds of names necessary for a plant? Yes, because a common name varies by region, language, and culture, whereas a botanical name is universal.

 

 

 

Botanical Nomenclature

Botanical Nomenclature is the formal, scientific naming of plants. It was developed by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. In botanical nomenclature, each plant’s name consists of two names or words, and the name is universally accepted. This kind of name is also referred to as ‘scientific name’ or ‘botanical name’. In this post, I’d like to use the term ‘botanical name’.

 

Anatomy of a Botanical Name

A botanical name consists of two parts: Genus and specific epithet or species. For example, the botanical name of a bigleaf maple is Acer macrophyllum. Acer refers to a genus and macrophyllum a species. A species provides more detailed information that adds to a genus name. The name of Acer macrophyllum signifies that it’s a certain kind of maple (Acer) which has big (macro) leaves (phylum). The first letter of species must be in lower case whereas the one of genus in upper case.

 

Acer macrophyllum. Source: flickr

 

Sometimes you can see additional words aside from the two words in a botanical name. For example, the botanical name of Sunburst Thornless Honey Locust is Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermis ‘Sunburst’. Oh my God! The name is so long! Let me dig into the words added to the first two words.  

 

-        ‘var.’ stands for variety. There can be various varieties of a single species and it gives more detailed information for a plant than a species does. For example, ‘var. inermis’ means thornless.

-        A word in the single quotation marks ('Sunburst') signifies cultivar or cultivated variety. It occurs only through the man-made process of selecting plants to breed with each other. For example, ‘Sunburst’ refers to a bright golden leaf color.

 

One more thing to talk about. You may encounter a botanical name with the letter x between two words. This refers to a cross between two or more species, or a hybrid. A hybrid can occur with human intervention or in nature. For example, Pelargonium x hortorum is a hybrid commonly known as Geranium.

 

Advantages of Knowing a Botanical Name

Here are some advantages of knowing a plant by its botanical name. First, you can ensure the exact plants identification. Let’s say there is a maple tree with red leaves, and we might simply think that it’s a red maple. However, there are numerous maple trees that have red leaves in autumn and most of their common names include ‘red’ and ‘maple’. In this case, knowing the tree’s name by its botanical name helps identify it clearly. As a botanical name helps accurate identification of a plant, thus it allows us to give accurate care to the plant. Sometimes, appropriate care for each plant differs significantly from each other. To give the right care for the right plant, it’s best to be familiar with the botanical names. Second, botanical names might provide you with opportunities to learn more about the plant. Just like common names, botanical names can imply something about the plant. It can be the plant’s relationship to other plants and other useful information about the plant. For example, the botanical name ‘officinalis’ signifies that a plant may have medicinal functions.

 

Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary). Source: Wikimedia Commons

 

<Reference>

Landscape Ontario, GROW Training Program: “Introduction to Botany and Plant ID”
Landscape Ontario, Garden Centre Introductory Horticultural Training Videos

Sky Nursery, “Why Botanical Names Matter”, January 7th, 2021