Written and edited by Tammy 25th July 2023
I remember wandering around amongst the plants in the first garden centre I worked in thinking how will I ever remember all these 'fancy' plant names, I can't even pronounce them!
Fast forward to now and I'll let you in on a little secret...I still can't pronounce OR spell a lot of them, but I have become familiar with quite a few now and more importantly, I understand the significance of them.
Firstly, what's botany? It's the scientific study of plants. Botanists study plant DNA/genetics, their physical appearance, their biology, a plants origin and its coping mechanisms for the place it originates and a whole lot more.
It's these scientists who create names for plants, and not just any old name, formal names that conform to an international code so they can be recognised in all languages anywhere in the world.
And why Latin?
Well, because back in the 'old days' when they first began naming plants, Latin was the universal language used by scientists... so it makes sense, it's just stuck.
When you pick up a plant in a garden centre, you'll see it's got a " name" (it's generally something easy to pronounce) like Pom pom, Pink Splash or Grey Box. Often the name has some relevance to the plant's physical appearance, or colour. It may even have been given in honour of the breeder or founder of the plant or someone of significance.
Common names can change from one season to the next or even from one company to the next, different retail growers will put their own trademark name to a plant, but at the end of the day the botanical name for that plant will ALWAYS be the same. It could be an Ornamental plum Ruby Flare, or a Crimson Spire, depending on which company you buy the tree through, but both trees are a Prunus cerasifera. The botanical name for that tree doesn't change because it's what it is.
Take the example of our pets. We can call our cat or dog whatever name we like, Fido or Rover, but the scientific name will always be Canine or Feline.
And just to take it a step further, our pet dog, Fido? Fido is a Canine and he's a part of the terrier family. Terriers, cattle dogs, pointers, hounds are different breeds or families.
So Fido's a terrier canine mammal in the animal kingdom.
And back to our plant.... commonly known as Pom pom? It's a daisy, the formal name is Argyranthemum, it's in the Asteraceae family, of Angiosperms, which are flowering plants in the plantae kingdom.
Next time you find yourself in a garden centre looking for a little red flowering plant called pom pom, or an upright ornamental plum tree with red foliage, keep an eye for those big tricky names on the back of the description tags, they might just help you to put the puzzle pieces together or help you to find or identify other similar plants in the same family.
Happy Gardening!đđŞ´
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