With the garden lie down fallow , January seems like the perfect metre to brush up on your Latin and Greek . Why ? Well , imagine for a mo that it ’s natural spring and you ’re in a garden center where you see a grassy - look plant that matter to you . The flora ticket identifies it asSisyrinchium angustifolium . If you are intimidated by strange - sounding scientific names such as this one , relax . You ’re not alone . horticulturist use scientific public figure instead of mutual names to identify or define a particular feature of a plant . In the case of this plant , it bump to be a narrow-minded pass on gamy - eyed pot . The botanical termangustifoliumdescribes the plant ’s narrow leave , thus arrange it apart from other blue - eyed grass species , such as white profane - eyed sens , stout blue - eyed grass , slender blue - eyed grass , or Montane dismal - eyed grass , to name just a few .
Scientific names are commonly in Latin or Greek and are well document in scientific issue . The important thing to think of is that they are standardized worldwide and are accepted by botanists in all countries . In other wrangle , no matter where you live on this planet , a birch Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree will always be correctly identified as such when it is referred to by its scientific name , Betula , rather than its common name .
vulgar name , on the other hand , are not similar and can vary from person to person , surface area to area , or country to nation . For instance , as a child , I remember hear my female parent consult to a favorite shrub as a “ snowball bush . ” The flora may have been aHydrangeaor possibly aViburnum . Both have been call up snowball bushes , but they are two entirely different species .
To assist you crack the codification on ordinarily used botanical term , here are a few that describe specific features of plant , such as their leaf form , plant conformation , unique features , and gloss as well as land of origin . Note that many of these terms have “ masculine ” or “ womanly ” ending reckon on the gender of the solution Good Book . For instance , Helianthus angustifoliusis masculine whereasLavendulaangustifoliais feminine .
conformation of leaves – Many scientific plant names mention to the size and shape of the leaves . Some commonly advert leafage shapes include :
Shapes of works — Some plant are key out for the shape of the plant or the contour of the peak . Aster , which is Latin for star , refers to the works ’s star - shape flowers . Some other unremarkably used terms referring to plant shape include :
Unique features of plant life – Still other terms refer to specific or unique features of plants , such as :
Colors of flowers or foliage – A good many industrial plant names advert to color , including :
country of Origin – Still other plants are named for their geographic or regional origins such as African reddish blue , Russian salvia , Japanese anemone , American beautyberry , Mexican bush sage , and California poppy . Origin names unremarkably discover on plant life tag include :
Plants named for masses – In accession to unique features described above , plants are often named for people . It ’s not rare for a works to be bring up in honor of the person who discovered it or bred it . Here are just a few exercise :
These are just a sampling of botanical full term to offend your pastime and perhaps take some of the mystery out of the scientific gens given to flora . Now , having brushed up on your plant terminology , sit back and take a long , bright flavour at that garden catalogue that just get in !
