Gardening is full of imagination. botanical latin phrase and technical terms that often confuse gardeners. These botanical terms can seem incredibly complex or, worse yet, incomprehensible. but I promise plant naming It’s not as confusing as it seems.
We have Swedish botanists. Carl Linnaeus Thanks for this mysterious and stressful plant naming system. Due to the number of plants, 250 years ago Linnaeus wanted to use a simplified universal system in his book. plant speciesThus, binomial nomenclature Born. Technically he was not the first to use this system, but he was the first to apply it consistently to the plant kingdom and later to the animal kingdom.
Comprehension plant classification It gives you important knowledge that will help you take better care of your crops. Unfortunately, common names are not consistent, so it is difficult to rely solely on them. At the same time, they also miss some clues included in the classification that provide a better understanding of what we are growing.
Let’s look at the botanical terms used in this Naming and classification of plants. I’m focusing on those that are useful to gardeners, but I know there are many groups useful to botanists as well.
Family
The first classification to take into account is the family. there is grouping Above families, like orders and empires, but for gardeners, this is generally as high as we should go. Larger groups don’t provide as much useful information, so we start at this first level.
with plants similar structures classified into familiesThis includes the size of the leaves, the growth habit of the stems, or the size of the flowers or seeds. they finish ACE And they often start with genus names we can recognize, like Orchidaceae.
Take broccoli as an example. The family name is Brassicaceae, commonly known as brassica familyThis family includes many other crops, including radishes and mustards and ornamental plants such as alder.
Understand that plants belong to the same family. Share features Useful in agriculture, especially when dealing with problems such as insects. When you understand which pests attack a particular family, you can protect not just one species, but all the species that belong to that group. Management methods are also generally similar among plants in a family.
Breed
Within a family, we have a caste. Or in plural, generations. The principle is the same as for families: the plants are grouped because they have Similar features. However, in terms of genus, they are much more similar than plants from the same family.
Depending on size, a family may have hundreds or only a few descendants. Going back to the broccoli example, the name of the genus is brassica (Without ACE In the end). Genders are always capitalized and italicized.Very.
Many species are a few hundred years old and were initially named when binomial nomenclature was introduced. However, as scientists learn more about it plant structure Over time, genera can change or species within a generation can move.
For example, although many people recognize the snake plant as a houseplant sansevieriaIt was reclassified a few years ago. dracaena Genus based on new molecular phylogenetic studies. It takes gardeners a while to understand this (we’re obviously not fans of change), so you’ll often see plants still naming using their old gender or using both genders synonymously. It has been included in the list.
species
The name of a species includes two words According to binomial nomenclature (the prefix ‘bi’ gives it away). The first term refers to the gender and the second is called a specific adjective.
distinctive features identify Specific characteristics What separates a plant into a genus. many times they give us clue How the plant grows, where it was found or who “discovered” it. Some have Latin roots and others have Latinized Greek roots. Some are simply a version of the classifier name.
When you work with plants often, you will quickly discover connections. Some phrases like ‘vegetable’ EITHER ‘gorgeous’ These are already easy to identify, which will help us understand why a plant was given that name. Others are more complex. When it comes to plants named after people, plants that end in –II are named after Male, AND –Yeah after women,
Below are some examples of root words, prefixes or suffixes:
- Milk: milky, like paeonia lactiflora
- Marriage: gold, like golden epipremnum
- edge: leaf, like Arisema triphyllum
- narrow: narrow, like Lavandula angustifolia
- valley: from Spain, like Iberis is always green
- maritime: from the seashore, like maritime lobularia
The genus name and the specific epithet form the species name. Let’s go back to broccoli, of course. Brassica oleraceaEITHER B. oleraceaThe specific epithet means primarily vegetable, reflecting what this species is commonly used for.
Diversity
there are varieties different versions of a particular species (Although not all species have different varieties). They differ markedly from the main species in one or more respects, but remain genetically related.
Varieties often emerge naturally Without direct human intervention, but this is not always the case. This may be a random adaptation, cross-pollination, or the result of evolution. The varieties are represented by the abbreviation var. Between the specific epithet and the name of the variety. Some varieties emerged thanks to cultivation by humans.
Broccoli is Brassica oleracea Our. obliqueVariety of wild cabbage cultivated by man. Latin botanical terms are always italicized, while var. The standard remains.
What mainly differentiates varieties from varieties is The varieties are true to type.Although there may not be varieties. Plant varieties are generally stableAllows you to grow the same plant from seeds. the same features that make it exclusive of the species It will be in the new plant. In other words, they become true to type. This is not true for the varieties we will consider below.
Crop
A cultivar is a single plant that has been domesticated by humans. controlled environment and produce one Distinctive feature. It is a combination of the botanical words “cultivated” and “variety”, denoting a subgroup of a species that was specifically cultivated by people.
Plant breeders produce varieties for many reasons, but the goal is Improvement of any kind, whether in Growth habit or ornamental value.However, some of these varieties are a happy coincidence.
For example, there are varieties of many vegetable crops that have been bred to be resistant to certain diseases, reducing the risk of crop failure. Cultivars of invasive species have been created to be less invasive in the garden. Others are created to enhance the color of the flowers or the pattern of the foliage. The list goes on.
main difference Varieties within a variety and within a variety are more difficult to reproduce from seed. They can be cloned through vegetative propagation. Breeders often patent their varieties before distributing them, so it may actually be illegal to propagate patented varieties for resale.
Concluding with the broccoli example, there are many interesting varieties to choose from, such as ‘By Cisco‘O bright violet’BurgundyThe name of the cultivar will appear after the name of the species, always between quotes and in capital letters. then the full name will be Brassica oleracea Our. oblique ‘Cisco’
