Information on Flower Names
Most people know the common name of their favorite flower from purchases made at garden centers and flower shops. The avid gardener may belong to a garden club where speakers share their knowledge of certain flowers. However, most weekend gardeners would not know how to communicate to a specialist over the Internet to receive assistance for the droopy hydrangeas in their planter beds.
Scientific Name
Flowers are often identified by a scientific name along with a more common name. While most flowers have been assigned a Latin name, the misuse of this language down through the years has called for a broader term for the naming of flowers called the “botanical name.” The botanical name refers to one particular plant with a few exceptions and must conform to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
Genus Name
The formal botanical name is used worldwide for a particular plant. Most avid gardeners prefer the botanical name when communicating more precisely with other gardeners. There may be many components of a plant name, referred to as the genera of a particular plant. A genus, singular for genera, is the basic grouping of plants with similar traits. Guidelines from the International Rules of Botanical Nomenclature states that the genus name should be written first either underlined or italicized with the first letter capitalized.
Epithet, Cultivar and Connecting Terms
An epithet is a more specific reference to a particular plant. The epithet is written second and never capitalized; however, it should be underline or italicized. The species of a plant is derived from a combination of the epithet and the genus of the particular plant. Most gardeners communicate at the species level; however, there are further divisions such as cultivar, variety and subspecies. A cultivar is a name given to plants that humans have crossbred. Botanical names may be in one, two or three parts. The name of a plant does not include the connecting term.
Further Information on the Naming of Plants
A specific genus may be named in honor of a person or the original native people that discovered the plant. Generally, the name is derived from a characteristic of the defined group. The genus is subject to change, as with the Chrysanthemum plants. Recently these plants were split to join the Dendranthema, Leucantemum and Tanacetum groups. The scientific study of the classification of organisms is called taxonomy. The renaming of a genus must go before a committee. Someone on the committee will interpret the International Rules of Botanical Nomenclature before a vote for approval is attempted.