Plant Names Explained: Botanical Terms and Their Meaning - Hardcover

Editors Of David & Charles, Editors Of David &

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1446313514 ISBN 13: 9781446313510

Publisher: David & Charles, 2024

Synopsis

If you, like many gardeners, have a fascination for plant names and their derivations, but stop short of wanting to study botanical nomenclature in great depth, this book is for you!

Precise naming is essential to be able to identify plants accurately and most gardeners have at least some knowledge of ‘botanical Latin’. But a plant’s full botanical name does much more than give it a unique label. The name can often tell you where the plant originated, who discovered it, what shape it is, and much else besides. What’s more, the name can be used and understood anywhere in the world.

This is a book to have with you at the garden centre, and one to keep beside your bed for an entertaining read. Plant Names Explained is an indispensable guide and makes the subject accessible, enjoyable and fun. It shows not only how plant names work, but also how you can make use of them in entertaining as well as practical ways.

A selective alphabetical listing of botanical names and their explanations is accompanied by features exploring cultivar names, with translations of foreign terms and lists of plants you can link with special occasions and celebrations, or with personal names. Other features highlight the places, people and plant characteristics that lie behind the names: gardens and nurseries, countries and cities, plant hunters and gardeners, colours, characteristics and habitats.

Plant Names Explained is an essential and fascinating guide to the subject. What may at first seem a dry but necessary convention is revealed to be a way of opening up the intriguing world of plants.

About this title

About the Author

Jane Sterndale-Bennett, one of England’s foremost gardeners, is the Consultant for the book, and has written the Introduction. Jane is a past chairman of the Hardy Plant Society and lectures widely on plants and gardens.

The Foreword is by Andrew McIndoe of Hillier Nurseries, who have been growing and selling the very best quality plants since 1864.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The framework of Plant Names Explained is an alphabetical listing, giving translations of many of the descriptive terms that form part of Latin plant names. Often an example of a relevant plant name accompanies the translation; many of these will be familiar garden plants. Some specific epithets (e.g. angustifolius, narrow-leaved) are more common than others, occurring in the names of a number of plants. These are picked out in the listing as ‘Common descriptive terms’, each accompanied by several plant examples illustrating use of the term.

Once translated into English, specific epithets often reveal useful information about the plant such as its colour, native habitat or country of origin. For general interest and easy reference, the book features a series of ‘What’s in a Name?’ panels, each listing a selection of these Latin descriptive terms with their meanings. These panels are grouped by theme such as shape, plant uses, colours or habitat.

Genus names often derive from the names of notable people, or from Greek, Latin or other ancient languages. For example, Aubrieta is named for Claude Aubriet, a French botanical artist, while Chrysanthemum is from the Greek words for ‘gold flower’. The book features a series of ‘Genus Names’ panels (pale green) explaining the derivation of some of the main genus names beginning with each letter of the alphabet.

Sometimes it is useful to look up the Latin name of a plant of which you know only the common name, for example foxglove, snowdrop or beech. Another letter-by-letter series of panels answers the question ‘What’s the Latin name?’ Herbs, fruits and vegetables are listed in separate ‘What’s the Latin Name?’ boxes.

Modern plant names include a whole world of cultivar names. These can be useful, funny or just plain fascinating. Selected foreign cultivar names, such as Philadelphus ‘Manteau d’Hermine’ or Prunus ‘Amanogawa’, are translated in a series of alphabetical ‘Cultivar names’ panels: ‘Foreign Expressions’. A selection of the more quirky English cultivar names are highlighted in a similar alphabetical series called ‘Strange but True’. A third letter-by-letter series of panels is ‘Personal Names’, featuring plants such as Narcissus ‘Jenny’, Rhododendron ‘David’ and Lonicera periclymenum ‘Sweet Sue’. Other cultivar names highlight people or places, artists or foods, or are named for special occasions such as birthdays or anniversaries (useful when thinking about gifts). Examples of these are listed in themed ‘Cultivar Names’ panels scattered through the book.

Any attempt to condense the enormous subject of plant naming into a book of this size may leave some readers feeling disappointed by what has had to be omitted. However, Plant Names Explained is intended as a book to dip into for interest and for fun, rather than as an all-encompassing reference manual. For a scholarly, comprehensive and in-depth study of botanical names, refer to the standard work, Botanical Latin, by William T. Stearn (David & Charles, 1966 and 2004). A great linguist and eminent botanist, Stearn spent his life researching the naming of plants and meticulously tracing the origins of many plant names.

While every effort has been made to provide accurate and up-to-date information, plant naming is an increasingly complex business, with names changing all the time. New cultivars appear every year, while others become unavailable. The publishers therefore cannot accept responsibility for names that may have changed or been incorrectly recorded, or for plants that are no longer in commerce. We would be very happy to hear from readers should they encounter any inaccuracies.

Edition details

• Publisher: David & Charles
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1446313514
• ISBN 13: 9781446313510
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224