What’s in a name?

I much prefer to use Latin plant names rather than common names; Latin names avoid confusion and give lots of additional information about a plant’s habit or colour, where it came from or who discovered it. Common names often vary between locations and the same one can be used for more than one plant. For example, elephant’s ears is a common name used for Bergenia, Colocasia and Ligularia. The leaves of each plant might resemble an elephant’s ear, but they are very different plants with very different growing conditions.

Ligularia dentata Britt-Marie Crawford, common name Elephant's ears, which was found growing in her garden by a general practitioner who was a keen gardener. Before she could propagate it she died suddenly in her sleep. Her family ensured that the plant became commercially available and named it after her.

I suspect that a major reason why people avoid using Latin plant names is a fear of mispronunciation. If you simply say what you see you will get most plant names right, and it really doesn’t matter how you pronounce it as long as people know what plant you are talking about. 

Lamprocapnos spectabilis Gold Heart, formerly Dicentra, also known as Bleeding heart, Dutchman's breeches and Lady in the bath. 

If you want more information there are several publications that give the phonetic spellings. Here are some basic hints and tips. 

In the following phonetic examples, italics indicate the part to emphasize, for example Cotoneaster is ko-to-nee-as-ter

anything with a double “i” at the end is pronounced ee-eye, so Clematis Armandii is klem-a-tis ar-mand-ee-eye

Some other common tricky ones:

Kniphofia is nif-of-ee-a

Saxifraga is sax-ee-fra-ga

Silene is si-le-nee

Sisyrinchium is sis-e-rink-ee-um

You get the idea.

Hakonechloa macra Aureola and Ajuga reptans Burgundy Glow

Next, understanding the list of words that make up a Latin plant name is easier than you might imagine. The first word will be the genus, which is the name given to a group of plants that share a range of general characteristics, for example Acer, Cornus and Primula. The genus is always written with a capital first letter and italics.

Second you will find the species name, which groups together plants within each genus by more specific characteristics. For example Acer palmatum, Cornus mas and Primula vulgaris. The species name is written in lower case italics. The species name often describes a particular plant characteristic or where it comes from.

Acer palmatum means it has leaves like a hand

Cornus mas means it has masculine qualities

Primula vulgaris means it is a commonly found plant

Acer palmatum

Next there might be a cultivar or variety. This is the name given to it by a plant breeder and often gives a clue to its leaf or flower colour. The cultivar does not have italics and is often given single quote marks. Modern cultivar names do not contain Latin words. Some plant names will omit the species and go straight to the cultivar where its parentage is unclear.

Acer palmatum ‘Crimson Queen’, a modern name to indicate the leaf colour

Cornus mas ‘Variegata’, a Latin cultivar to indicate that the leaves are variegated

Primula vulgaris ‘Alba Plena’, a Latin cultivar which indicates that the plant has white, double flowers

So to recap: Genus species Cultivar

example: Lavandula angustifolia Hidcote
translation: Lavender, narrow-leaved, named after Hidcote Manor in Gloucestershire

Some common Latin words used in plant names

Origins

canandensis – from Canada

japonica – from Japan

napaulensis – from Nepal

orientalis – oriental/eastern

sibirica – from Siberia

sinense – from China

Primula Inverewe, named after the Scottish garden where it was found

People’s names

Bowdenii (bow-den-ee-eye) - the British surveyor, Athelstan Hall Cornish-Bowden, who sent Nerine bulbs from South Africa to Britain in 1899

Dalavyi (del-a-va-i) - Père Jean-Marie Delavay, a French missionary, explorer and botanist 

Sieboldii (see-bold-ee-eye) - Philipp Franz von Siebold, a German botanist and traveler

Veitchiana (veech-e-a-na) or Veitchiorum – nurserymen of Chelsea

Wilsonii – Dr Henry Wilson, English plant hunter

Wallichiii (wol-lich-ee-eye) – Dr Natahniel Wallich, Danish botanist and plant hunter

Chionodoxa forbesii pronounced ky-on-o-doks-a, common name Glory of the Snow, named after someone called Forbes but I'm not sure who!

Plant characteristics

capitata (kap-it-a-ta) – flowers clustered in heads

diphylla (dif-il-la) – two–leaved

elata (e-la-ta) or elatus – tall growing

elegans (el-ee-gans) – elegant

flore pleno (flor-ee-plee-no) or plena – double flowers

floribundus (flor-ih-bun-dus) – very free-flowering

formosa (for-mo-sa) – handsome/beautiful

fragrans (fra-granz) – fragrant

fragrantissima (fra-gran-tis-sim-a) – most fragrant

fruticans (froo-tih-kanz) - shrubby

glaucum (glaw-kum) – glaucous or blue-green

gracilis (gras-il-is) – slender

grandiflorus (gran-dih-flor-us) – with large flowers

humilis (hu-mil-is) – low growing

illustris (il-lus-tris) – brilliant, lustrous

lanceolata (lan-se-o-la-ta) – spear-shaped leaves

longifolia (long-if-ol-ia) – long-leaved
macro - used in compound words to denote long or large

macrantha (mak-ran-tha) – large-flowered

odorata (od-or-a-ta) – sweet-scented

officinale (of-fis-in-a-le) – of the shop, herbal

palustris (pal-us-tris) – of marshes

peltatum (pel-ta-tum) – shield-like

polyphylla (pol-if-il-la) - many-leaved

procumbens (pro-kum-benz) - prostrate

reptans (rep-tans) – creeping

rivularis (riv-u-lar-is) – of river sides

sempervirens (sem-per-veer-enz) – always green

speciosa (spes-e-o-sa) – showy

spectabilis (spek-tab-il-is) – spectacular, showy

splendens (splen-denz) - splendid

sylvestris (sil-ves-tris) – of woods

versicolour (ver-sik-ol-or) – changeable colour

vulgare (vul-gar-e) or vulgaris (vul-gar-is) - common, many forms of

The plant name might describe its habit by reference to another plant, for example

jasminoides (jas-min-oy-dez) – jasmine-like

aquilegifolium (ak-wil-e-jif-o-le-um) – aquilegia-like foliage

Primula capitata

Colours

alba – white

aurea - golden

coccinea – scarlet

lutea – yellow

nigra – black

purpurea - purple

rubra – red

More simple than you thought? Now there is no excuse to avoid using Latin plant names and you can amaze your friends with your in-depth plant knowledge!