Re: common names/botanical names

This is just a FYI note. There exists among entomologists a convention
similar to the one described by Jane Reese (see below). If an insect
name is inaccurate, it is spelled as one word. For example, we have
dragonfly and butterfly (these are not really flies) and ladybug (this
is a beetle). If the insect name is accurate, it's spelled as two words
(deer fly, honey bee, etc.). The convention for the common names of
plants Jane mentions is being revived and I'm beginning to see it
utilized in several local floras. Also, I believe the Flora North
America project has adopted that convention.

I think it's a great idea (I've been using the convention for years).
It's nice to be able to look at names like "Golden Rain Rosemary" and
"Cumberland-Rosemary" and be able to immediately tell just from the way
the common name is written that the former is a true rosemary in the
genus Rosmarinus and that the latter is not a true rosemary (it's a
shrubby mint native to Kentucky in the genus Conradina).

JANE REESE wrote:
> I just learned in class that it was a convention among old time botanists
> to use a hypen in the common name for a plant, if the common name
> incorrectly reflects its botanical name.  For instance, meadow-rue is not a
> rue; douglas-fir is not a fir; rock-rose is not a rose.  If the common name
> were correct, then there would be no hypen like Bourbon rose, or what ever.
> This appears in Jepson, but not consistently.
> 
> It would help a lot if the convention were revived.
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