SCIENTIFIC NAMES of PLANTS Lobelia Inflata L
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SCIENTIFIC NAMES OF PLANTS Lobelia inflata L. Family = Campanulaceae (the family name usually ends in “aceae).” Lobelia = genus name inflata = species epithet L. = Linnaeus, the author of the species PLANTS ARE KNOWN BY SCIENTIFIC NAMES DERIVED, FOR THE MOST PART, FROM LATIN AND LESS SO FROM GREEK. OTHER LANGUAGES ARE LATINIZED WHEN THEY ARE USED FOR SCIENTIFIC NAMES. A PLANT SPECIES HAS ONLY ONE ACCEPTED SCIENTIFIC NAME. IN CONTRAST, A PLANT SPECIES OFTEN HAS MORE THAN ONE COMMON NAME. NEW SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED TO BE WRITTEN IN LATIN The International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, Fungi, and Plants now allows new species to be described in English. Although this change was approved at the International Botanical Congress in 2012 in Melbourne, Australia, botanists still have to read the Latin of old botanical descriptions. The book above is the best book for learning botanical Latin. CARL LINNAEUS 1707–1778 • Father of plant taxonomy. • Invented binomial nomenclature (= genus + species). • His book, Species Plantarum, was published in 1753. It serves as the starting point for the validity of botanical scientific names. • Sent his students throughout the world to collect plants. Linnaeus on a botanical expedition to Lapland. The plant he is holding is Linnaea borealis L. (twinflower). Naming a plant after oneself is now against the botanical code of nomenclature. The rules used to control the way plants and fungi are named are updated every five years at the International Botanical Congress. This year (2017) they will be held in Shenzhen, China. The Code has nothing to do with how to delimit a genus or species. It is only about the rules of nomenclature. WHAT DO TWO NAMES AFTER A SPECIES NAME MEAN? The scientific name of the jack- in-the-pulpit is Arisaema triphyllum (L.) Schott Linnaeus described Arum triphyllum L. in Species Plantarum in 1753. Heinrich Wilhelm Schott moved this species to the genus Arisaema in 1832. This new combination gives credit to Linnaeus for recognizing it as a new species and Schott for moving the species to the correct genus. The International Code of Algae, Fungi, and Plants regulates these kinds of issues. CLASSIFICATION OF INDIAN TOBACCO Kingdom: Plantae (plants) Subkingdom: Tracheobionta (vascular plants) Superdivision: Spermatophyta (seed plants) Division: Magnoliophyta (flowering plants) Class: Magnoliopsida Subclass: Asteridae Order: Campanulales (Bellflower family) Genus: Lobelia L. Species: Lobelia spicata Lam. (Indian tobacco) Species names are in italics; the genus name starts with a capital letter and the species epithet is in lower case. BASED ON MOLECULAR DATA Depiction of hypothesized evolutionary relationships of Lobelia inflata in the APG system, the most up to date system of plant classification Indian tobacco TODAY, CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS IS BASED, TO A LARGE EXTENT, ON MOLECULAR DATA WITH THE RESULTS DEPICTED IN EVOLUTIONARY TREES CALLED CLADOGRAMS. THIS INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT THE ANGIOSPERM PHYLOGENY GROUP WEBSITE UNDER OF THE AUSPICES OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/ THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF INFORMATION ABOUT PLANTS ON THE INTERNET. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BOTANY TAKE THE TIME TO EXPLORE THE FOLLOWING WEBSITES THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (https://plants.usda.gov/java/) THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS KEW (http://www.ipni.org/ ) MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN (http://www.tropicos.org/) INFORMATION ABOUT THE HERBARIA OF THE WORLD (http://sciweb.nybg.org/Science2/IndexHerbariorum.asp.html) Useful for locating botanical specialists in plant families. Sending a specimen and images to a specialist is a good way to identify an unknown plant. THIS WEBSITE HAS THE BEST PLANT IDENTIFICATION TOOLS FOR THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES (https://gobotany.newenglandwild.org/) TO DELVE MORE DEEPLY INTO BOTANY, I RECOMMEND TWO BOOKS: BIOLOGY OF PLANTS by P. Raven et al. for basic botany and PLANT SYSTEMATICS: A PHYLOGENETIC APPROACH by W. S. Judd & C. S. Campbell for students wishing to learn the details of plant classification. .