In these pages, I identify plants by their common name and botanical name. The latter is a two-part scientific name, genus and species. It is normally a Latin name, shown in italics and encased in parentheses following the common name, such as garden phlox (Phlox paniculata). Many common names may be easier to remember (and pronounce) than botanical names, but sometimes there are many common names for one plant, and this can become confusing. The botanical name, on the other hand, is used throughout the world to avoid difficulties of translation. Do not be intimated by the Latin names. You may already know many in your garden by their “first” botanical name (genus). For example, zinnias, allium, cosmos, chrysanthemums, and iris are a few that come to mind.
The genus is a unique category of plant. The species name that follows it is a descriptive word that may describe a plant’s feature (such as color, bloom time, habitat, who discovered it, or place of origin). The other names that follow the genus and species names denote a naturally occurring variety that has one or more distinguishing characteristics and usually produces true-to-seed and/or a specially bred cultivar. The variety name always directly follows the species name. As for the cultivar, it will either follow the variety or the species name.
The word cultivar means a cultivated variety—that is, a plant selected and cultivated by humans. Cultivar names are always surrounded by single quotation marks and are capitalized. An example of this is the Latin name for a coneflower cultivar: Echinacea purpurea ‘Magnus.’ Most flower cultivars are developed by plant breeders for unique flowers, leaf color, or growing habit. They normally do not reproduce true-to-seed. The term spp. at the end of some names indicates several species of a genus, such as Begonia spp.
This is a winter flowering begonia (Begonia × hiemalis). Botanical plant names include genus and species names, and they may also include variety and cultivar names. This plant is in the Begonia genus. The species name is hiemalis. The species name is descriptive of the plant. For example, the Latin term hiemal means “relating to winter.” A genus name followed by an “×” means the plant is a cross between two different plant species—a hybrid plant.