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Naming of Plants

Below is what we hope to be a helpful aid to understanding the sometimes confusing world of plants and their Latin (strictly 'botanical', as many are derived from Greek) names. Many people shy away from referring to plants by Latin names because it seems too complicated or highbrow. In all walks of life there are people who love to prove that they know more about something than other people and the plant world is no exception but Latin names are not for the reserve of these show-offs, they are for all of us and such snobbery should be ignored.

Knowing a plant by its proper name as accepted by the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) www.rhs.org.uk is the best way of finding plants and making sure you get exactly what you are looking for. We check all of our plant names with the RHS every year. Where a name has been changed, we cross-refer to the previous name - see list of synonyms.

As modern techniques for testing the genealogy of plants improves, some plants have their name changed if they are found to have a different origin than first thought. Many people don't realise how many Latin names they know. Ask most people "Do you know what a Crane's Bill or a Bellflower is?" and you will receive a blank look. Ask them if they know what a Geranium or a Campanula is and they will say "Oh yes, I've got that in my garden." This is an example of plants being better known by their Latin name than their common name.

Family

Like people, all plants have family origins and if closely related can share common characteristics. For example plants in the Aster family (Asteraceae) usually have daisy flowers. Members of the Iris family (Iridaceae) usually have distinctive sword shaped leaves and sometimes have similar flowers. If you would like a list of plants in a particular family please feel free to e-mail us with your request.

We will use Geranium pratense for the following example to demonstrate how there can be different versions of a single species.

Genus

The Latin name given to a group of plants e.g. Geranium.

Species

The Latin name given to different plants within a Genus e.g. Geranium pratense.

Variety (var.)

The Latin name given to a variety of a species e.g. Geranium pratense var. stewartianum. Varieties differ from the species in a small number of ways e.g. the flower colour and leaf shape may be different.

Subspecies (subsp.)

The Latin name given to a plant which differs in several characteristics from the species due to its geographical location. These differences can be flower colour, flower size, flowering period, ultimate height, leaf size and shape, habit etc. e.g. Geranium pratense subsp. varifolium (this does not exist, we have invented this subspecies for the purpose of consistency for this example)

Form (f.)

The Latin name given to plants which differ only slightly in characteristics from the species e.g. Geranium pratense f. albiflorum -This tells us that this plant is identical to the species in every way except it has white flowers.

Species, Varieties, Subspecies and Forms occur naturally in the wild without human intervention.

Cultivar

(sometimes wrongly called variety) These are plants which do not occur naturally and have been cultivated with the intervention of humans. Sometimes this is the result of deliberate breeding, sometimes it can be a chance seedling found in someone's garden. A sample is sent to the RHS to be analysed and if found to be a new plant, the breeder/ owner is entitled to name the plant whatever they wish.

This is why we sometimes get plants with quirky names like Campanula punctata 'Hot Lips'.  Astrantia 'Hadspen Blood' and Brunnera macrophylla 'Hadspen Cream' are named after the nursery which introduced them. Papaver orientale 'Patty's Plum ' is named after Patricia Marrow who stumbled across this chance seedling growing in her compost heap! Cultivars are always indicated by inverted commas e.g. Geranium pratense 'Mrs Kendall Clark'.

Hybrid

A plant which has two known parents. This is indicated by an X e.g. Geranium X magnificum (which is the offspring of Geranium ibericum and Geranium platypetalum) Another example is Digitals X mertonensis. The characteristics of both parents can easily be seen in this plant. It has very similar flowers and habit to Digitalis purpurea (the common Foxglove) but the flowers are much larger, which is indicative of Digitalis grandiflora, the other parent. Sometimes the X precedes the Genus e.g. X Heucheralla. These plants are a cross between Heucheras and Tiarellas.