What’s in a Name? Cindy Newlander Associate Director of Horticulture Denver Botanic Gardens November 6, 2017 What the Public Sees Family Scientific Name Family Common Name Scientific Name Common Name Special Info: logos, awards, groups Nativity/Range or Hybridizer info What the Public Sees Goals for today: Plant Classification refresher What is a scientific name? Why we use scientific names versus common names? What are some resources for more confident pronunciation? Plant Classification Hierarchy Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species King Philip can order fish guts Sunday… Plant Classification Hierarchy Family – approx. 416 (APG IV-2016) Genus – 17,000+ (The Plant List) Species ~ 391,000 vascular plant species named known to science; 369K are Angiosperms, the flowering plants (Kew, 2016) DBG’s Living Collections Statistics 244 Plant Families 2177 Genera 9100+ Species 14,000-15,000 taxa (includes subspecies, varieties, cultivars, grexes) ~23,000 accessions (with +/- 3000 new accessions added yearly) A majority of DBG’s nomenclature data at the species, genus and family level is based on information from The Plant List. Plant Classification Family Useful level for distinguishing characteristics of plants Share obvious traits (anatomical – reproductive features – flowers) Some common families and their members: Rosaceae – rose, hawthorn, pear, apple, raspberry Apiaceae – carrot, parsley, Angelica Asteraceae – yarrow, daisy, Joe Pye, sunflower Brassicaceae – horseradish, broccoli, mustard, wallflower Pinaceae – pine, fir, spruce, hemlock, larch Poaceae – bluegrass, sugar cane, corn, wheat Plant Classification Genus – plural is genera Definition: a category of biological classification ranking between the family and the species, comprising structurally or phylogenetically related species Examples: Chaenomeles, Crataegus , Cotoneaster, Rosa, Malus, Pyrus, Prunus, and Sorbus are all in the family Rosaceae Plant Classification Species – specific epithet Definition: A fundamental category of taxonomic classification, ranking below a genus and consisting of related organisms capable of interbreeding A specific epithet name can be repeated through different genera or across families Example: Campanula divaricata, Phlox divaricata Example: Actaea rubra, Ipomopsis rubra (pictured) Both the genus and specific epithet are written in italics or underlined Plant Classification Specific epithet frequently comes from a descriptive quality of the plant, geographic location or person’s name Descriptive: Echinacea purpurea (purple flower) Purshia tridentata (leaves with 3 dentations) Penstemon compactus (compact form) Person: Amaranthus torreyi (John Torrey) Packera fendleri (Augustus Fendler) Penstemon moffattii (David Moffatt – tunnel) Plant Classification Specific epithet frequently comes from a descriptive quality of the plant, geographic location or person’s name Place: Xanthisma coloradoense (map/photo) Fraxinus texensis Iris missouriensis M. Kintgen Euonymus europaeus Plant Classification Below the Species Level Subspecies Variety Forma Cultivar Hybrid Graft-Chimaera Grex About 40% of the Gardens’ taxa are in this category Taxa below Species Level Subspecies Unique characteristics to separate from at least one other subspecies Leaf characteristics, hairiness, flower shape, etc. Naturally occurring Can interbreed with others within the same species, but are generally isolated geographically (different habitats) Written as ssp. with name in italics Comandra umbellata ssp. pallida C. umbellata ssp. umbellata C. umbellata ssp. californica Taxa below Species Level Variety Plants not geographically or genetically isolated Naturally occurring Written as var. with name in italics Penstemon angustifolius P. angustifolius var. var. caudatus angustifolius M. Kintgen Taxa below Species Level Cultivar - (CULTIvated VARiety) A distinguishable variety that is maintained in cultivation “Hand of Man” May also be called a “selection” Cultivars may be maintained either sexually (seed) or asexually (ie. cutting, tissue culture) Designated in single quotes in plain text (no italics) on labels and Hemerocallis ‘Yellow Wax’ literature Common Names vs. Scientific Names Common Name: Names used for everyday communication by laymen Scientific/Botanical Name: Latin/Greek derived name which is unique for each plant Common Names Advantages: Easy to remember Easy to spell, say, etc. Common Names Disadvantages: One plant may have multiple common names Example: Viola (Garden Pansy) has 200+ common names Example: Artemisia sp. - Old Woman, Beach Wormwood, Hardy Dusty Miller. Example: Angelica archangelica – Garden Angelica, Archangel, Wild Parsnip Common Names Disadvantages: Common names may overlap across several species or even across families •Example: Lunaria annua (Brassicaceae) (right) and Lysimachia nummularia (Primulaceae) (left) both have common name of money plant (‘Aurea’ shown far left) Common Names Disadvantages: Common names vary by geographic areas •Carpinus caroliniana is known as American hornbeam, blue beech, musclewood, water beech and ironwood •Nymphaea alba (white waterlily) has 15 English, 44 French, 105 German & 81 Dutch common names Common Names Disadvantages: Some plants (especially ones uncommon in cultivation or ones originating in from a foreign country) may not have a generally accepted common name In the Gardens’ database of Draba atlantica from Morocco living plants, 3800 taxa (27%) has no common name in English do not have a listed common name Scientific Names Advantages: •Only one accepted name per species •Every plant has one (if named) Iris ‘Saint Teresa’ Scientific Names Disadvantages: •What about those synonyms? •How do I pronounce that? Iris ‘Saint Teresa’ Communicating Plant Names “Latin is a language, As dead as dead can be. First it killed the Romans: Now it’s killing me.” Communicating Plant Names Latin is now seldom spoken We don’t know how it was spoken in the Roman world Many words have been Latinized Refer to Botanical Latin by W.T. Stearn – several copies available in the library or web references later in this presentation Communicating Plant Names All vowels are pronounced (though there are exceptions) and often belong to different syllables Pronounce each syllable (co-to-ne- as-ter not cot-on-east-er) Listen to others and believe in yourself Cotoneaster multiflorus Communicating Plant Names Attempt to accent all syllables equally; this will help you hear how the accents should naturally fall Retain pronunciation of proper names now used as scientific names (jones-eeee instead of jo-nes-ee-eye for jonesii) Aquilegia jonesii References for Scientific Names pronunciation http://www.finegardening.com/pronunciation-guide/a http://overplanted.com/resources/latin.php http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/Pronunciation.htm http://davesgarden.com/guides/botanary/ http://www.calflora.net/botanicalnames/pronunciatio n.html Review What is a scientific name? Why we use scientific names versus common names? What do scientific names mean & what are resources for finding the meaning behind the Latin? What are some resources for more confident pronunciation Questions? References State of the World’s Plants. 2016. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. https://stateoftheworldsplants.com/2016/report/sotwp_2016.pdf The Plant List: A working list of all plant species. Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden. Vers. 1.1. http://www.theplantlist.org/ A little Latin: people’s names as genera If name ends in vowel Add letter “a” at end Boutelou”a” If name ends in “a” add “ea” Colla”ea” If name ends in consonant Add “ia” If name ends in “er” add “a” or “ia” Sesler”ia” If name ends in “us”, drop “us” and add “ia” Dillen“ia” from Dillenius What is your genera name in Latin? Newlanderia A little Latin: epithets commemorating persons When specific epithet is named after a man: If name ends in a vowel, add “i” … except if name ends in “a”, add an “e” bureaui (Bureau); balansae (Balansa) If ends in consonant add “ii” … except if ends “er”, add “i” ramondii (Ramond); kerneri (Kerner) Syllables not modified by endings retain their original spelling unless they contain foreign letters to Latin (ä=ae) Scottish or Irish “Mac”, “Mc” or “M” should be spelled “mac” and united with the rest of the name “mac”gillivrayi, “mac”nabii after McNab Irish ‘O’ should be united or omitted; obrienii or brienianus (O’Brien) Of course there are exceptions! A little Latin: epithets commemorating persons When a specific epithet is named after a woman: Same provisions apply with feminine termination: If name ends in vowel add “e” olgae (olga) If name ends in “e”, add “ae” If name ends in consonant add “iae”, “ianum” or “ianus” eastwoodiae for Alice Eastwood willmottianum for Ellen Willmott What is the specific epithet from your name? newlanderiae or newlanderianum or newlanderianus Communicating Plant Names Numbers ala Latin Numbers ala Greek ½ - semi ½ - hemi 1 – uni 1 – mono 2 – bi 2 – di 3 – tri 3 – tri 4 – quadri 4 – tetra 5 – quinque 5 – penta 6 – sex 6 – hexa 7 – septem 7 – hepta 8 – octo 8 – octo 9 – novem 9 – ennea 10 – decem 10 – deca Many – multi Many – poly Few - pauci Few - oligo Communicating Plant Names English Latin Derived Greek Derived -angled -angulus -gonus -anthered -antherus -antherus -carpelled -carpellatus -gynus -colored -color -chromus -flowered -florus -anthus -fruited -carpus -leaved -folius -phyllus -lobed