A Gardener's Latin: The language of plants explained (National Trust Home & Garden)

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When a new strain of plant is developed, the new plant needs a third category to further describe its one-of-a-kind characteristic. This instance is when a third name (the plant’s cultivar) is added to the Latin plant name. This third name may represent the developer of the cultivar, location of origin or hybridization, or a specific unique characteristic. Meaning of Latin Plant Names Aided by this book the gardener can now answer the question "What's in a name?" and they and their garden will benefit from understanding the wealth of information that has hitherto lain hidden within the mysterious world of Latin names.' - Financial Times Online In binomial Latin, the genus is a noun and the species is a descriptive adjective for it. Take, for example, Acer is the Latin plant name (genus) for maple. Since there are many different types of maple, another name (the species) is added too for positive identification. So, when confronted with the name Acer rubrum ( red maple), the gardener will know he/she is looking at a maple with vibrant, red, fall leaves. This is helpful as Acer rubrum remains the same regardless of whether the gardener is in Iowa or elsewhere in the world. While it isn’t necessary to learn scientific Latin plant names, they may be of significant aid to the gardener as they contain information regarding specialized characteristics among similar plant species.

Primping and pruning the secret garden might seem like a totally 21st century concept, but the fact is women have gotten into below-the-belt grooming since before the Bronze Age. The Latin plant name is a description of the plant’s characteristics. Take Acer palmatum, for example. Again, ‘Acer’ means maple while the descriptive ‘palmatum’ means shaped like a hand, and it is derived from ‘platanoides,’ meaning “resembling the plane tree.” Therefore, Acer platanoides means you are looking at a maple that resembles the plane tree. Japanese: 庭 (ja) ( にわ, niwa ), 菜園 (ja) ( さいえん, saien ) ( vegetable garden ), 野菜畑 ( やさいばたけ, yasaibatake ) ( vegetable garden )Behind the tangled garden of microphones that had sprouted on the lectern, Goldwater spoke softly and casually about his family. Arabic: بُسْتَان‎ (ar) ( bustān ), حَدِيقَة‎ (ar) f ( ḥadīqa ), جَنَّة‎ (ar) f ( janna ) Egyptian Arabic: جنينة‎ f ( ginēna ) Hijazi Arabic: حَدِيقَة‎ f ( ḥadīga ), بَخْشَة‎ m ( baḵša ) ( archaic ) Moroccan Arabic: جردة‎ ( jarda ), جنينة‎ ( jnīna ) The use of Latin plant names can be confusing to the home gardener, sometimes even intimidating. There is, however, a very good reason to use Latin plant names. Persian: پَرْدیس‎ (fa) ( pardis ), بوسْتان‎ (fa) ( bustân ), بُسْتان‎ (fa) ( bostân ), پارْک‎ (fa) ( pârk )

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1963&context=extension_histall Latin words for the genus or species of a plant are descriptive terms used to describe a specific type of plant and its characteristics. Using Latin plant names helps to avert confusion caused by the often contradictory and multiple common names an individual may have. Cyrillic: вр̏т m, по̀вртња̄к m, вртњак m, са̑д m, садњак m, посадњак m, ба́шта f, ба́шча f Roman: vȑt (sh) m, pòvrtnjāk (sh) m, vrtnjak m, sȃd (sh) m, sadnjak m, posadnjak m, bášta (sh) f, bášča (sh) fCantonese: 花園 ／ 花园 ( faa 1 jyun 4-2 ) Dungan: хуайүан ( huayüan ) Mandarin: 花園 ／ 花园 (zh) ( huāyuán ) Min Dong: 花園 ／ 花园 ( huă-huòng ) Min Nan: 花園 ／ 花园 (zh-min-nan) ( hoe-hn̂g / hoa-hûiⁿ ) Wu: 花園 ／ 花园 ( 1ho-yoe )

Best of all it is used globally so the confusion created by local names or foreign languages is no longer a problem. Hebrew: גַּנְּתָא‎ f ( gannəṯā ), גִּנְּתָא‎ f ( ginnəṯā ), גַּנָּא‎ m ( gannā ), גִּנָּא‎ m ( ginnā ) Syriac: ܓܢܬܐ‎ f ( gannəṯā, ginnəṯā )And they aren’t so difficult to understand once you remember many words we use everyday come from Latin. So where a plant has the word orientalis as part of its Latin name you’ll recognise it’s something to do with the orient or east. And if the plant is obesus you might guess it’s a bit fat. Likewise a plant with the name equinus is something to do with equines (horses). Often these words will be linked to others to tell us which part is obesus or equinus. Romansch: curtin m ( Rumantsch Grischun, Puter, Vallader ), curtgin m ( Sursilvan ), curtgegn m ( Sutsilvan ), curtgign m ( Surmiran ) Blow on my garden [speaking of her genitalia], so the spices of it may flow out. Let my Beloved come into His garden [her pubic area] and eat His pleasant fruits. Lower Sorbian: zagroda f ( in general ), gumno n ( area behind a barn for fruits and vegetables ), gumnyško ( small garden allotment ) Upper Sorbian: zahroda f, zahrodka f

Fascinating feature spreads retell the adventures of important plant hunters such as Sir Joseph Banks and Alexander von Humboldt, and explain how their discoveries affect the way our gardens look today. Individual plants are also profiled throughout, showing how their names can illuminate their hidden histories. Some Latin names are descriptive of the plant, some are almost poetic. Others describe colours, places, leaf shape and so much more.c. 2004, Hair Care Down There, Inc, The History of Hair Removal viewed at haircaredownthere.com on 9 May 2006 - Combining the two names gives us a unique term for this person’s individual name just as combing the “genus” and “species” scientific Latin plant names gives us a unique botanical nomenclature guide for each individual plant. From Old French jardin ( “ garden, enclosure ” ), probably from Vulgar Latin or early Gallo-Romance hortus gardinus, from Old Frankish *gardin, oblique case of *gardo ( “ enclosure, yard ” ), from Proto-Germanic *gardô ( “ enclosure, garden, house ” ), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰordʰos ( “ hedge, enclosure ” ), from *gʰerdʰ- ( “ court, yard ” ). The difference between the two nomenclatures being, that in Latin plant names the genus is listed first and is always capitalized. The species (or specific epithet) follows the genus name in lowercase and the entire Latin plant name is italicized or underlined. Why Do We Use Latin Plant Names?