Plant Names; Scientific Names

Ms. Agnes deLanvallei, March 2005

Our current plant naming system was created in the 18th century. In the 1750's Carolus Linnaeus, a Swede, published a system of naming plants (and all organisms) that has been adopted by the scientific community. He gave each organism (species) a single name. Since the educated of his day, whether Flemish or Czech, spoke Latin, that name was in Latin. He established a hierarchy in which similar plants were grouped together, similar species in a genus, similar genera into families, similar families into classes and on up to Kingdoms.

Scientific names are binomial (two-word). Part of Linneaus' innovation was creating a two-part name. Linneaus' scientific names required two parts, genus and species. The genus is the larger group, the species smaller. For example, the lion is Panthera leo , house mouse is Mus musculus, spearmint is Mentha spicata, and peas Pisum sativum. Other cats include the tiger Panthera tigris and the leopard, Panthera pardus. Likewise, the other mints are water mint Mentha aquatica and field mint Mentha arvensis. Genus names are always capitalized, species names are never capitalized (although you may see it in some old works.)

Linneaus generally turned the common word for the organism in Latin into the genus name, for example dictionaries give you mus for mouse and pisum for pea (Online Latin=English Dictionary, 2005; Webster?s New World Dictionary 1960). See examples on this list of the plants Charlemagne recommended in his Cappillare: note the match between the common name in Charlemagne's text, written in 7th century Latin, and the modern scientific name ( Charlemagne's plants)

Genus names are treated as nouns.

The species name is an adjective or modifies the genus name. Thus Mentha aquatica is the water mint, and Mentha arvensis is the field mint [arvensis translates as "of cultivated ground" Fernald 1970). Some species names tell you where the organism came from Olea europaea (European) olive and Sesamum indicum sesame (of India). Other species names commemorate a person Andropogon gerardii would be Gerard's andropogon, but its usual common name is big bluestem. Not all plants and animals were known to the Romans and many different adjectives can be applied to any one organism so modern species names are quite diverse.

The two-word name is needed to identify any species. Several or many species can be in a genus, so the genus name alone isn't specific.

Since species names are descriptors, they get reused, so they don't convey much information standing alone. ( Examples ). Thus, species names should never be use alone. Genera can be used without species names, in which case the whole genus is encompassed: Mentha spicata is spearmint, Mentha would be saying "mints."

The use of the initial for the genus name: "Many of the plants in the genus Artemisia were used as Medieval herbs, for example A. absinthum, wormwood and A. abrotanum, southernwood" is acceptable only when its perfectly clear what the initial stands for (and it must be the most recent genus starting with that letter). "Many of the plants in the genus Artemisi and Allium were used as Medieval herbs, for example A. absinthum wormwood and A. abrotanum, southernwood, A. cepa onion and A. sativum garlic" is both incorrect and misleading. It should be "Many of the plants in the genus Artemisia and Allium were used as Medieval herbs, for example Artemisia absinthum wormwood and A. abrotanum, southernwood, Allium cepa onion and A. sativum garlic."

The short forms sp. and spp. stand for species (singular) and species (plural), respectively. When you know the genus and not the species you can write Mentha sp. (a mint, I don't know which one), or Mentha spp. (several different unidentified mints).

Scientific names are italicized because they are considered to be in Latin. The rule in English is that foreign language words should be placed in italics.

Because each species has one and only one scientific name, this system is important for allowing people from different parts of the world to talk to each other effectively. Common names can and do vary geographically. Plants have common names in every language so English speakers won't know da huang and Chinese speakers won't know rhubarb, but can communicate clearly about Rheum rhaponicum.

In modern English usage, common names are not capitalized, unless they include a proper noun (person or place name for example English ivy, Spanish moss).

Literature Cited

Fernald, M.L. 1970. Gray's manual of botany. 8^th edition. D. Van Nostrand Company, New York.

Online Latin = English dictionary 2005. http://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/Latin/

Webster's New World Dictionary. 1960. Webster's New World Dictionary. College Edition. The World Publishing Company, Cleveland.