Re: A Pet Peeve and Need Identification Help

**"Peter Loewer" t*@earthlink.net**

Graham: Once more into the breech: It's not a botanical name  but a
scientific name! Don't we all owe our readers the probability that we are
correct about what we advise and counsel?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Graham Rice" <garden@tiscali.co.uk>
To: "Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum"
<gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 9:08 AM
Subject: Re: [GWL] A Pet Peeve and Need Identification Help


> To many, all this discussion about whether or not to use botanical
> names is a fuss about nothing: "We all know what we mean when we say
> 'bluebell' or 'sycamore' or 'marigold'" - that's the sort of thing I
> hear. In fact we don't and using the botanical name is the only way
> to be sure, to say what we really mean.
>
> Bluebell, after all, can be
> 1) (in the US) the eastern woodlander Mertensia virginica
> 2) (in Engalnd) the spring bulb of the English woods, Hyacinthoides
> non-scriptus
> 3) (in Scotland) the dainty little meadow flower Campanula rotundifolia
>
> And sycamore, is
> 1) (in England) always Acer pseudoplatanus
> 2) (in the US) often Platanus occidentalis
>
> And marigold could be
> 1) Calendula officinalis
> 2) Any species of Tagetes
>
> So it's essential that we all do whatever we can to make it clear to
> gardeners that only by using the botanical name can be sure we say
> what we mean. Vegetables are different because there are (relatively)
> so few and most people understand which is which; but even so I've
> seen 'Bright Lights' listed in catalogues under Beet, Chard and
> Spinach.
>
> As for name changes... Changes occur because of the advance of
> botanical science reveals more profound relationships between plants
> and, for better or worse, the names of plants are tied to their
> relationships with each other. Also as has been mentioned, the rules
> are that a plant must be known by the name it's first called and
> sometimes research reveals a valid name older than the one with which
> we're familiar. But there is also a mechanism by which very familiar
> names which are found to be invalid can be "conserved". The name of
> the winter/spring flowering heather Erica carnea has been conserved,
> otherwise we would have to learn to call it Erica herbacea and
> millions of plant labels around the world would have to be changed.
>
> Graham Rice
>
> http://GrahamRice.com
>
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> marigolds
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