Plant names redux

---

"A foolish consistency is the hogoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

I have said before that I follow the rules of botanical nomenclature, and I often do. But not always.

 

I taught my daughters that there is no right language or wrong language, only appropriate language. You are free to break the "rules," but only after you know the rules. And when you do vary from the standard, I expect you to be able to tell me why you did. For me the same is true of plant names.

 

I write for newspapers, and newspapers, especially small newspapers, are cranky about using italics. Further, standard email submissions don't always transmit italics (which I have put in italics here, but may come to you in common text). So right off the bat my copy can deviate from botanical rules.

 

Next there is the problem of genus as opposed to a conversational name. For example, Sedum (italicized) is a genus, but when I am talking about sedums, I am often using the term colloquially, as I would use "stonecrop" but perhaps a step up, not italicized and with a lower case "s". I sometimes take this a step further. Let's say I'm talking about Eremurus, the foxtail lily. If I mention Eremerus robustus, I would capitalize the genus, lower case the specific epithet, and italicize it, for what good it does. But if I am talking more conversationally, I write "eremurus", lower case and not italicized, using it as if it were a "common" name. While this violates the rules, I consider a lower case, unitalicized name better than the folk name of foxtail lily. I am straddling the issue.

 

I take similar liberties with the single quotes of fancy names. If I write about Sedum telephium 'Mohrchen' (or maybe Hylotelphium telephium 'Mohrchen' -- who knows) I do the whole shebang, upper and lower case, italics for the genus and species, regular type with single quotes for the fancy name. But if I am talking about a fancy name without the full dress, I often drop the quotes, especially if it involves a list of three or more. It just looks too busy.

 

I am certain there are some who would draw me and quarter me and boil the parts in oil for this apostasy. But I fall back on my advice to my daughters -- once you know the rules, you are free to break them. But know them first.

 

D