Hi All,
In my quest to learn as much about gardening as possible, I have
been struggling with learning all the botanical names that we tend to toss
around. (It's also nice to know exactly what I just paid $6 for at the local
nursery!) In my new "Gardener's Desk Reference", I found a list that helps
it make more sense. Knowing what these terms *mean* helps me remember why
the plant is called that.
Thought I would share it with you all...... I realize that this is not a
complete list, and that some of you could care less about using the
Botanical names, but for the ones that are as puzzled by WHY they named the
plants like they did, here's a list. (Latin 101, coming at cha!)
acaulis - stemless maculata - spotted
alba, albus - white majus - larger
amabile, amabilis - beautiful maritima - from near
the sea
arborescens - treelike maxima - largest
aurantiaca - orange microphylla -
small-leaved
aurea, aureum - gold millefolium -
thousand-leaved
azurea - blue minor, minus -
smaller
blanda - pleasent mollis - soft
caerula - deep blue montana - from the
mountains
canadensis - from Canada or America multiflora - many-flowered
chinensis - from China nana - dwarf
coccinea - scarlet nigra - black
communis - common nitida, nitidum - shining
cordata - heart-shaped odorata - scented
crispa - finely waved, curled officinalis - used as
an herb
dulce - sweet
(medicinally)
elata - tall palmatum -
palmate, hand-shaped
elegans - elegant palustris - from
marshes or wetlands
erecta - upright, erect parvifolia -
small-leaved
flava, flavum - yellow pendula -
drooping, pendulous
florida, floridus - flowering perenne,
perennis - perennial
fragrans - fragrant pictum - painted
fragrantissima - very fragrant procumbens - prostrate
fruticosa - shrublike pulchella - pretty
gracilis - graceful pumilia -
low-growing, dwarf
grandiflora - large-flowered punctata - spotted
griseum - gray purpurea - purple
hortensis - of the garden repens, reptans -
creeping
humilis - low-growing rosea - rose-colored
hybridus - hybrid rotundifolia -
round-leaved
incana - gray-haired rubra, rubrum - red
japonica, japonicum - from Japan sanguinea - blood-red
lactea - milky scandens -
climbing
laevis - smooth semperflorens -
everblooming
lanceolata - lance-shaped sempervirens - evergreen
longifolia - long-leaved speciosa - showy
lutea, luteus - yellow spectabilis -
spectacular
macrophylla - large-leaved spinosus - spiny
spinosissimus - spiniest superbum - superb
tomentosa, tomentosum - hairy umbellata - having
flowers in
variegata - variegated
umbels
villosa, villosum - softly hairy virginiana -
from Virginia
vulgaris - common
Thanks, Roz, for the great list. Some of these words seem to have already
seeped into my brain somehow from all the label reading, I guess, but I can
always use a little help. Plus, my students will be starting a ethnobotany
project in a month or so, and this list should help them too.
Thanks!
Jan
