I'm curious When refering to plants do you refer to them by the Latin name or the common name? BTW here is a great tool to convert from Latin names to common names and vice versa http://www.plantpress.com/dictionary.html
Thats a great tool. I have a hard enough time spelling the common names let alone the latin. Heck I dont even think I could pronounce the latin names. How about adding spell check here :-D
I think the common name would be of more use to most folks - I use a mix of both when I'm looking for plant info, but I also have kids who are taking Latin in my house so it doesn't seem that odd. Let's go with common, and toss the Latin into the description would be my thought.
Always Latin , the reason for Latin is that I can talk about a plant to anyone in the world and they will know specifically what plant I am refering to . Great link www.plantpress.com Check out the plant Lords and Ladies it converts to Arum Maculatum Check out Arum Maculatum it converts to Wake Robin . In one of my old gardening books there are over 100 common names for Arum Maculatum 8) Bugs
I prefer the common name, since those are the ones I know. But they can be tricky sometimes, especially when talking to your parents or grandparents about flowers. The first time my Canna's bloomed, Randy saw them and said his grandmother alway grew "flags" too....I had grown up calling the purple Iris that I love, "flags". Which they actually are, but it took a while to convince him of that. A gardening list I am on, one lady submitted a picture of what she called Butterfly Weed and had been told by her Grandmother that is what it was named, but the plant was Lantana which butterflies do love and here in Texas does "grow like a weed" out in the country.
Bugs has a good point here - we have folks from all over the place and the regional names for the plants may vary. Perhaps the Latin would be the best way in the long run.
And anyway, most of the time you do use Latin (actually almost any langauge other than Latin, but still) without realising it. Remember over 90% of plants do not have a 'common' name and many of the rest only have one which is 'common' to its country of origin. By the way 'flags' are yellow irises in Britain! So how do you go about reading say Korean lettering for a species which grows only in that country?
I like both I can remember the common name but to be certain I like the botanical. Some plants have many diffeerent common names anare not always the same to all. When you use botanical you know for sure.
I prefer common .My mom called Cannas, Flags also but I knew what she was talking about.We are from all parts of the world .We call them what we know them as .If I have to grab a book everytime I talk about a plant .I would not even get on .That would take all the fun out of Stew.
I use a lot of the latin names. I get tired of everyone around here calling every yellow flower a "yellow bell", and every blue flower-well you get the drift.
I chose common name, but sometimes I use both, especially when wanting to research a plant or google it.
