Latin is for Lovers...of Plants

Question: Why do we use Latin to name plants?

Latin is the language of horticulture. When you go shopping in your favorite local garden center, you may notice two different names on the plant tag. One is the common or English name and the other is the Latin or scientific name. Today, there are over 200,000 known plant species in the world. Each and every species is assigned one and only one Latin name by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

Latin names for plants avoid a great deal of confusion. If I wanted to buy a plant of the European White Waterlily, I could use any one of 15 English common names, 44 French names, 81 Dutch names, 105 German names, or only one Latin name known worldwide by gardeners and scientists, Nymphaea alba. American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana) is also known as Blue Beech, Musclewood, Water Beech, and Ironwood. If you ask for a daisy at your store, there are many different species and varieties of daisy. Dimorphotheca aurantiaca (African daisy) is a beautiful annual and may be just the plant I want.

At one time scholars, scientists, lawyers, and churches all over the world used Latin for their professional work. In the eighteenth century the Swedish scientist Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) started naming living things in Latin. He devised a two-part or binomial name for each different type (species) of plant.

The first name is the genus name and the second is the species name. The genus name describes groups of plants that have similar characteristics. All roses are in the genus Rosa. Other genus names might already be quite familiar to you: Anemone, Aster, Astilbe, Crocus, Clematis, Delphinium, Hosta, Trillium, Rhododendron. Others might be new and strange to you: Acer (Maple), Achillea (Yarrow), Dicentra (Bleeding Heart), Hemerocallis (daylily), Platycodon (Balloon Flower).

The species name usually describes a specific, distinct characteristic of the plant. Rosa multiflora is a rose species with many (multi-) flowers (-flora). Rosa rugosa is a rose species with rugose (rugosa) or wrinkled leaves. Rosa chinensis is from China. There are between 100 to 200 distinct species of roses; experts disagree on the exact number. Tens of thousands of garden varieties, hybrids, and cultivars of roses have been developed from these few species. Many different species may be present in one genus of plants. When we write the scientific name of a plant, it is either underlined or italicized and the genus name is capitalized. Thus, the common dandelion is known all over the world as Taraxacum officinale or Taraxacum officinale. Cultivars, which are bred or selected by humans, are put into single quote marks after the Latin name; for example Rosa rugosa ‘Frau Dagmar Hastrup’, a fragrant, light-pink, single rose with large, abundant hips.

Don’t worry too much on how to pronounce Latin. Just sound out each syllable as best you can in English. If you can make yourself understood at your local nursery, you will get the plant that you really want. Learning a plant name (in Latin) is fun and is like making a new friend.

A delightful little book (80 pages) which I personally guarantee will make you a garden Latin expert (astound your friends) is A Gardener’s Latin by Richard Bird, available for about ten dollars.

Happy Gardening,

Joe Baltrukonis