It’s not just a hibiscus. It’s Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L. “Chariots of Fire.” Only the botanical name will get you the exact plant you want. Hidden Valley Hibiscus
Scientific names keep plants in check
Before we get started this week, a couple of
announcements:
■ Michael’s classes start next week! “What
Plant Is That” starts on Monday, and “Garden Design” begins Thursday. Both are
six weeks long. See the website for more:
www.msadesign.com.
■ When you have the time,
do notice plantings on the
south side of Pine Ridge Road,
at Kensington; and have a look
at plantings around the Interstate 75 interchange at Pine
Ridge Road. I’ll cover both of
these in a few weeks.
Michael
Let’s make it hard
Spencer
Now: lots of people wonder why we bother
with the scientific names of plants. Why say
Trachelospermum asiaticum when Asian Jasmine
is so much easier to remember and pronounce?
Some of the “old-time” gardeners — the folks who
have the most knowledge about plants — ask this
question with a revealing smile, intimating that
scientific names are college-boy silliness.
Is this true?
No. It’s just that they are delightfully polysyllabic, consistent with your design professional’s merry philosophy of eschewing austerity
in favor of abstruse recheré.
And there is this: The pointy-headed people
are actually on to something here. Scientific
names, and the way they are written, are
precise. The International Association for
Plant Taxonomy polices the effort, accepting
names only when following particular rules,
names not only identify individuals, but also
place the individual in the march of evolution.
Let’s look at how the system works.
The binomial system
Remember high school biology? All creatures are described by a system of increasing
specificity, starting with Kingdom, moving
through division, class, order, family, and
then genus and species. This last-species-is
a population of creatures able to reproduce
with fertile offspring (no mules need apply).
We owe a debt to Carolus Linnaeus, the Swede
who invented this ‘binomial system’ in 1753.
It’s the last two categories that have attracted our interest this week because they are
the workhorses of plant names. Two words,
though, may not be sufficient to describe a
plant. To that end, there are several accepted
ways to delineate the subject.
What else?
Scientists are rightfully jealous of their
discoveries. In the botanical world, we recognize the naming scientist by adding the name
directly to the right of the species. When you
see, for example, Myrica cerifera L., you know
that this plant was named by Linnaeus. Over
the course of time, though, many species
have been named by virtue of a more cursory
investigation.
In the case of plant material, especially, additional subdivisions are quite useful:
■ Subspecies are usually geographically
separated populations that may or may not
distinct variation within a population and are
essentially the same thing. Do note, though,
that these terms have legal definitions protecting certain rights. Write these varietal names
with an italic v. followed by the the name:
Genus species L. v. Variety.
■ And finally, there is Form. These individuals show only minor, but persistent,
differences, and are sometimes related to
environmental factors. They are written as
f. Horizontalis, maintaining the italics, and
always precede the naming scientist: Genus,
species, forma alba, Scientist Name.
Beyond the species
And just when you think you’ve settled on
talking about exactly the same plant: surprise!
The name is changed! Ordinary wax myrtle is
a native plant recently renamed by the aforementioned pointy-headed folk from Myrica
cerifera to Morella cerifera. Why?
Precision.
Many plants have been named based on
incomplete studies or apocryphal field observations. Plant material is located on the tree
of life based on the characteristics of sexual
parts, the study of which is tedious and time
consuming although a source of endless joy
to a certain personality type. There are about
a bazillion plant species on Earth, and only
a dozen or so research botanists, so you can
see that there is a bit of a backlog. As each
plant is properly studied and described a
more exact placement can be made. In the
last dozen years or so we’ve seen queen palm,
for example, move from Cocos plumosa to