Don’t hesitate to learn and use botanical plant names. They tell us a lot about our plants and how to grow them. Using the botanical name made up of genus and species allows us to know exactly what plant we are discussing and growing.
Cyclamen (genus) hederifolium (species) bloom every October in my garden. But other cyclamen bloom in the fall, too. So how do I know whether my plant is C. hederifolium or C. repandum, and what is the difference in growing needs? The beautiful cyclamen we see at Christmastime, C. persicum, are not cold tolerant enough to do well in our gardens. How can we know this essential growing information if we know only that all three plants are cyclamen?
‘Sowbread’ is the common name of cyclamen. The only insight we get from this name is that pigs eat the tubers in some areas where cyclamen are native. Where do the pigs eat them? What growing conditions do they like (that is, the cyclamen, not the pigs)? Knowing the species along with the genus leads us to a wealth of knowledge about our plants gleaned from books and the Internet, the application of which gives them the best chance of surviving and thriving.
Beautiful blue and purple asters also bloom in the fall. Some species of asters need very free-draining soil and others grow along streams. Some are hardy in our area and some not. If I had not looked up water-loving aster modestus, I would have killed my new plant by planting it in dry gravelly soil.
Botanical names come from a long history of classification and taxonomy, starting with the great scientist Linnaeaus of the mid-18th century and carried on by Darwin of mid-19th century. The recent ability to closely study the DNA of plant material has led to significant reclassification from one genus to another, including some new genera. My beautiful asters are now in the new genus symphotrichum. Plant enthusiasts like me tend to snort in frustration (“That taxonomist just needed a reason to write a paper!”) at the name changes. I do have to admit, though, that this reclassification is reflecting new, useful knowledge about plants and their relationships to each other.
Examining the botanic names of plants is interesting. The common name “sowbread” is silly and entertaining, but breaking down the words is also revealing. Using cyclamen hederifolium as an example: ‘cyclamen’ is from medieval Latin ‘cyclaminos’ and from Greek ‘kyklos’ circle or move around, referring to the round bulbous shape of the root. “Hedera” means ivy in Latin, “folium” means leaf, which tells you two things about the plant and how to identify it. Botanical names can tell us how and where a plant grows and what it looks like. Don’t worry about how to pronounce the words because they are pronounced differently in varied areas of the gardening world. Okay, my “geekishness” is revealed.
For those of you who like digging into words as well as plants, I recommend Stearn’s Dictionary of Plant Names for Gardeners. Also, The Guardian newspaper published a September 9, 2018, article, “Don’t be Scared of Using Latin Plant Names” (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/sep/09/dont-be-scared-of-using-latin-plant-names-james-wong?CMP=share_btn_link). Be sure to read the interesting comments posted to the article from around the English-speaking world.