Some of you may have noticed Adrian Higgins' piece in the Post yesterday -- frankly I'm surprised more people didn't send it to me, especially current and former students who loathe using botanical nomenclature during my classes!
Since the modern binomial system began (remember Linnaeus?) those wishing to document discovery of a plant were required to write the descriptive text in Latin. As of January 1, those descriptions can be written in English. It's a good change and on January 5 the New York Times issued an editorial supporting it. That does not mean though that plant species will abandon their botanical names (I am always reluctant to refer to as 'Latin names' since just as often the botanical name is Greek, or derivative of ancient Greek).
I have to admit, when I first heard about this, I panicked, thinking that they were abandoning scientific nomenclature which would have been a major change for designers, nurserymen, botanists, teachers, etc.
Higgins adds that the change will also affect, 'the pretentious gardener who, trug in one hand, pruners in the other, can wax on about the Syringa (lilac), Salix (willow) or Solidago (goldenrod), et cetera,' which I think is a little cruel, since there are 25 species of Syringa, 400 species of Salix, 100 species of Solidago, et cetera. In many cases, the species refers to critical differences among plants of the same genus. Not to mention that, to many, understanding what's behind the nomenclature can be fascinating - otherwise my etymology tags on Planted Cloud and NYPAOS wouldn't be so highly viewed!
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