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RE: Correct plant names

I'd like to speak to this thread on using correct scientific names, although I will speak for the worms, which are related to plants because their poop makes plants grow real good.

As my manuscript for "Worms Eat My Garbage" was being edited, my editor XXed out my three paragraphs on scientific nomenclature, (two-name system; proper use--genus capitalized, species lower-case; and italicized or underlined because they are based on Latin or Greek). I then described common and scientific names of several earthworms that are relevant for composting, or familiar as soil-dwellers. My editor wrote in the margin, "Who needs it?"

I had taken the position from the start that editing was a collaborative process. I wanted the book to be the best that it could be, so was willing to subject myself to the process. But we needed to discuss substantial changes, and that, to me was a substantial change. So I responded, "The people who read this book need it. Worm growers need to learn the scientific name of the worm they are working with. Scientists won't give them the time of day if the worm growers won't bother to learn them. Worm growers will never be able to access the scientific literature if they don't learn the name of the worms they are working with. We've got to get the worm growers and the scientists communicating with each other if we are going to move forward in this industry. If they don't get this information from my book, they won't get it anywhere. If 3-year olds can learn the scientific names of dinosaurs, adults can certainly learn scientific names of worms!"

So the section stayed. It took several years for me to get proof that I had made the right decision. I received a call from someone who asked, "Are the worms you sell, Eisenia fetida?" I'm glad I was sitting, nobody had ever asked me that before. "Why do you ask?" "Well, because they are tolerant of a wide range of temperatures, pH, and environmental conditions. I need a hardy worm for waste processing of organics, and Eisenia fetida is supposed to be the best one for the job."

It takes awhile. But if you access the various worm discussion groups, many people who do not themselves have backgrounds in science will be able to address differences between Perionyx excavatus, Eudrilus eugeniae, Lumbricus terrestris, Eisenia fetida, and Eisenia hortensis. Of course there is confusion, and name changes from the scientists as new tools cause relationships to be better defined. But the standard has been raised from what it was twenty years ago before my book came out.After all, how can we communicate if a redworm to me is a red wriggler to you, a brandling to someone else, a tiger worm to yet another, and a manure worm to even someone else? I still don't know what kind of worm a "leaf worm" is, sold in bait shops all over Michigan.

We have to articulate clearly. We have to make a good case. And we have to persist. If we have to publish it ourselves to be able to do so, maybe that's what we have to do.

Mary Appelhof
as usual, talkin' about worms



--
Mary Appelhof, Author of "Worms Eat My Garbage"
Flowerfield Enterprises,10332 Shaver Road,Kalamazoo, MI 49024 USA
PLEASE NOTE NEW AREA CODE: PH:269-327-0108 FAX 269-327-7009


"Changing the way the world thinks about garbage"

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