Gardening Sweet Spots
By Donna Hessel
A Rose is a Rose is a Rose?
While it’s quite appropriate to use common names when everyone knows what you mean, often it’s much better to use the proper botanical name. By their very nature, common names are only given to common plants. But common where? Plants common in one place aren’t common in another. Also, many plants have more than one common name. Using a general name doesn’t provide a lot of information about that plant. For example, “purple salvia.” There are close to 1,000 species worldwide. Salvias are members of the mint family, which also includes rosemary, thyme, lavender, and basil. Ornamental salvias are also a relative of common sage, the culinary herb used for cooking. So which salvia did you want? And finally, some plants, especially those that are rare, don’t have common names. Therefore, common names are not as reliable as botanical names for identification purposes.
Deciphering Botanical Classification
A botanical name consists of two words, and is therefore referred to as a “binomial.” By convention, the name is printed in italics. The first word represents the larger group the plant belongs to, the genus, and the first letter is always capitalized. The second word is the species and is always lowercase. The species name is often descriptive of some aspect of the plant, such as size (usually relative to other species of the genus), growth habit, color or habitat. The genus name can be used alone when discussing a group of plants, but the specific epithet (or species) is never used by itself. Once the genus has been used in a paragraph, or is understood, it can be abbreviated, such as S. splendens. An unspecified (or unknown) species in the genus Salvia would be written as Salvia sp. To denote more than one species in the genus, it is written Salvia spp.
The variety is a subgroup name for a plant that differs only slightly from the species. It further delineates a specific plant and follows the genus and species. Varieties are indicated by “var.” Cultivars (a combination of the words cultivated and variety) are plants that are bred for their desirable characteristics. A cross between two or more species is a hybrid and is denoted with an “x.”
Blame Carl Linnaeus
Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707 to 1778) revolutionized the plant classification system during the 18th century when Latin was the most widely used international language of science and scholarship. Known as the “father of modern plant and animal classification,” he based his system on structural (morphological) similarities and differences, particularly regarding the reproductive organs, which are least likely to change over time. Linnaeus began his classification system by separating the plant kingdom into major divisions, based on evolution.
This example is how the pink flowering dogwood is classified:
Kingdom: Plantae (the plant kingdom)
Division: Trachaeophyta (vascular plants)
Class: Angiospermae (angiosperm – a flowering plant or one that produces seed in ovaries)
Subclass: Dicotyledonae (dicot – a plant having two cotyledons: the first leaf-like structures that form at the first node on a stem)
Order: Cornales
Family: Cornaceae
Genus: Cornus
Specific epithet or species: Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Variety: Cornus florida var. rubra (pink flowering dogwood)
Speaking the Language
Learning and using Latin names seems to intimidate a lot of people, but it really shouldn’t. In fact, you already use many Latin names: Begonia, Clematis, Crocus, Delphinium, Forsythia, Gardenia, Geranium, Ginkgo, Hibiscus, Hosta, and Iris — or ones that are really close to the scientific name, such as heliotrope (Heliotropium), peony (Paeonia), or rose (Rosa). You can gradually learn botanical names by reading them in plant books or seed catalogues, where the Latin name and common name are side by side.
But how do you pronounce those Latin names? For gardeners, the most important rule is to pronounce every letter and in the correct order. Just separate the word into syllables and say it like it sounds. Say each syllable separately, then string them together so you don’t leave anything out or mix up the sounds (like saying anenome for anemone).
Fine Gardening (the magazine) includes an appendix in every issue of the pronunciation of Latin plant names included in that issue. The best general source I found for pronunciation is the web article “Latin for Gardeners: a Brief Pronunciation Guide” at www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/adams/2002/latin_for_gardeners.htm. Unfortunately, no one has stepped up to provide an audio reference to botanical pronunciations either in a print web site or on YouTube.
So back to “A Rose is a Rose…”
A rose by any other name….would still be a rose! But there are a lot of varieties of roses. Garden, knockout, heirloom, tea—there are more than 150 species to choose from and thousands of hybrids. Roses are commonly divided into three main categories: Wild Roses, Old Garden Roses, and Modern Garden Roses.
The most common roses in today’s gardens are Modern Roses. These are varieties bred after 1867. Unlike Old Garden Roses, Modern Roses bloom throughout the season. They generally have a larger bloom size, but often they lack the hardiness, disease resistance, and fragrance of Old Garden roses. Old Garden Roses have been in existence since before 1867 and are sometimes referred to as “heritage” or “historic” roses. They have a notably strong fragrance, double-flowered blooms, and tend to be highly disease-resistant. They typically only bloom once per season. Wild Roses, or “Species Roses,” are the wildflower of the rose world. These are roses that haven’t been hybridized (cross-bred with other plants). They usually have single-bloom, 5-petal flowers, and are almost always pink. Finding a white or red wild rose is an anomaly and a yellow one is even rarer. Roses are often named to honor celebrities.
The rose in the sample photo is a Tea Rose – my favorite! It’s an Old Garden Rose, Catherine Mermet. Originating in China, these roses are today’s classic florist rose form. They’re not hardy in colder climates. They have pointed buds that open in a spiral and often roll back at the edges giving the bloom a pointed tip. Original teas were yellow, but the repeat-bloomers were bred to include shades of white, pink, and yellow to apricot. And they are fragrant. Which rose variety do you favor?
Resources for More Information
For a quick and easy lesson by a Maryland MG, see the web article “Latin for Gardeners: a Brief Pronunciation Guide” at emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/adams/2002/latin_for_gardeners.htm.
Article Information Sources: University of Wisconsin-Madison – A Horticulture Information article from the Wisconsin Master Gardener website, posted Nov. 26, 2007 – Author: Susan Mahr. (Note: This article also contains a table of Latin descriptive adjectives that are commonly used in naming species.)
Article: “Botanical Names” by Louise Roesser
Rose information source: https://www.countryliving.com/gardening/garden-ideas/g32146642/roses-types/
Tea Rose Photo Source (included in rose information source article): PAUL SULLIVAN/FLICKR
