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In this article we will discuss about the Naming of Plants:- 1. Common Names 2. Scientific Names 3. Binomial Nomenclature 4. Generic Name 5. Specific Epithet.
Naming of Plant # 1. Common Names:
It is the name given to a plant by people in a particular area or locality. It is the vernacular name or local name. In a multilingual country like India, where there are several languages, almost all plants have local names, which differ from language to language, and even from dialect to dialect.
Thus, a particular plant may have several names in a particular country. This makes things extremely difficult, when a person speaking a particular language wants to communicate about a plant to a person speaking a different language. Hence, common names have proved to be misleading and inadequate for wider use throughout the country or the whole world.
Naming of Plant # 2. Scientific Names:
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Plants should be named in such a way so that it can be used internationally. In order to overcome the problems raised by common names, botanists have given scientific names to all the known plants, for international communication.
The first problem, which they faced while giving scientific names to plants was to select the language which can give a clear cut meaning and which would not change. Although Latin is a dead language now, it was agreed by botanists of the world that scientific names should be in Latin particularly for the following three reasons:
• Firstly, this language is not being used by any country or nation at present.
• Secondly, most of the European languages are derived from Latin
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• Thirdly, in the past European scholars learned their subjects in Latin. It was a widely used language throughout the European countries and a lot of botanical literature has
been written in Latin.
Since Europe, and particularly Greece, has dominated the whole world in the field of science during 1600 to 1850 A.D., Latin is now a language of botany and other allied sciences. However, the script is Roman.
Naming of Plant # 3. Binomial Nomenclature:
In the early attempts of naming plants, plant names used to be long, as a single name used to be followed by one to many descriptive terms or adjectives, giving rise to multiple terms or polynomials which have been used by many taxonomists including Linnaeus (1753), in his Species Plantarum, and he used additional trivial names for these polynomials.
After Linnaeus system of trivial names, later workers however found it more convenient to adopt the binomial system consisting of two Latinized words, a generic name followed by a specific epithet (a trivial name). Thus, in the binomial system, a botanical name of a species is a combination of a generic name and a specific epithet.
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As for example, the botanical name of sunflower is Helianthus anus. The first word (Helianthus) designates the genus of the plant, while the second word (anus) designates the species of this genus. The generic name is usually a substantive (noun), while the second term or specific epithet is an adjective or noun.
Naming of Plant # 4. Generic Name:
The Generic name is usually a noun and singular, which is spelled or written with a capital letter.
Generic names have different types of origin:
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(a) A genera may be named in honour of a botanist or horticulturist or may be a patron of botany. For e.g. Linnaea has been named in honour of the famous botanist Linnaeus.
(b) Some generic names are of poetic or mythological origin. For e.g. Nymphaea denotes the lovely water-nymphs.
(c) Many generic names denote some characteristic feature of the plants. For e.g. Liniodendron or lily tree is named after the shape of the flowers of the Tulip Tree.
(d) There is another category of generic names in which the name is aboriginal in origin i.e. the names existed in the lands where the plants were discovered but later they were given Latin names. For e.g. Betula is an old Greek name for Birch.
Naming of Plant # 5. Specific Epithet:
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The specific epithet is often an adjective and it is written with a small initial letter unlike the generic name. However, if the specific epithet is derived from common names, or from a generic name, or from a person’s name, the initial letter of the epithet may be a capital letter.
In the typed or hand written manner, both the generic names and specific epithet should be underlined, while if printed it should be in italics or boldface.
Like a generic name, a specific epithet may also have several origins:
(a) It may be in honour of a person.
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(b) It may be derived from some special characteristic of the plant.
(c) It may be derived from a geographical location where the plant grows.
(d) It may originate from an old common name.
(e) It may be named arbitrarily.
