What’s in a Name? The Good, the Bad, and the Ordinary

Asclepias speciosa (showy milkweed)

Ready for another ramble through the wonderful world of botanical nomenclature? This time, let’s look at names that relate to…well, let’s call them value judgments – not specific traits like leaf shape, flower color, or geographic origin, but more subjective descriptors, along the lines of of really pretty, desperately dull, and utterly ordinary.

Allium carinatum subsp. pulchellum

First, the happy batch. I like to imagine that the botanists who chose these names were having a really good day, picking up an herbarium specimen, thinking “Hey, that’s a nice-looking plant!” and then mentally flipping through the epithets they could choose from to share their delight with others. They had plenty of words for beautiful, charming, or lovely to choose from, among them:

• amabile or amabilis: as in Cynoglossum amabile (Chinese forget-me-not) or Kolkwitzia amabilis (beautybush)
• amoenus: as in Clarkia amoena (farewell-to-spring)
• bellus: as in Sisyrinchium bellum (western blue-eyed grass)
• formosus: as in Dicentra formosa (western bleeding heart)
• pulchellus: as in Erigeron pulchellus (robin’s plantain) or Allium carinatum var. pulchellum
• pulcher, pulcherrimus: as in Deutzia pulchra or Euphorbia pulcherrima (poinsettia)

Euphorbia pulcherrima ‘Winter Rose Red’  (poinsettia)

Some plants get their beauty from the purity of their supposedly unmarked blooms, indicated by intaminatus (as in Cyclamen intaminatum), and immaculatus (as in Tigridia immaculata, which lacks the spots of other tiger flowers). On other plants, their charm comes from offering something extra special:

• decoratus (decorated): as in Hosta decorata
• lucidus (shining): as in Cotoneaster lucidus (shiny cotoneaster)
• ornatus (adorned): as in Gentiana sino-ornata (Chinese gentian)
• profusus (abundant): as in Gentianella profusa

Lamprocapnos spectabilis ‘Gold Heart’ (bleeding heart)

• spectabile or spectabilis (spectacular): as in Lamprocapnos [Dicentra] spectabilis (bleeding heart)
• speciosus (showy): as in Crocus speciosus (showy crocus) or Asclepias speciosa (showy milkweed)

Thalictrum speciosissimum (dusty meadowrue)

• speciosissimus (very showy): as in Thalictrum speciosissimum [T. flavum subsp. glaucum] (dusty meadowrue)
• superbus (superb): as in Leucanthemum x superbum (Shasta daisy)
• splendens (splendid): as in Asarum splendens (Chinese wild ginger) or Salvia splendens (scarlet sage)

Salvia splendens ‘Dancing Flames’ (scarlet sage)

Beauty can come from a graceful form, pleasing proportions, or an overall sense of elegance, as denoted by:

• elegantulus (somewhat elegant): as in Aquilegia elegantula (western red columbine)
• elegans (elegant): as in Aristolochia elegans (elegant Dutchman’s pipe)
• elegantissimus (very elegant): as in Deutzia x elegantissima (elegant deutzia) or Buxus sempervirens ‘Elegantissima’ (variegated common boxwood)
• gracile or gracilis (graceful): as in Mentha x gracilis (ginger mint)
• venustus (charming): as in Adiantum venustum (Himalayan maidenhair fern)

Buxus sempervirens ‘Elegantissima’ (variegated common boxwood)

Grace and daintiness are all well and good, but gardeners also have a great appreciation for plants that are vigorous growers. Some epithets related to size, strength, or abundance include:

• excelsus (tall): as in Metrosideros excelsa (New Zealand Christmas tree)
• excelsior (taller): as in Fraxinus excelsior (European ash)
• proliferus (prolific): as in Allium cepa Proliferum Group (tree onion or walking onion)
• robustus (robust): as in Eremurus robustus (foxtail lily)
• tenacissima (very strong): as in Stipa tenacissima (esparto or needle grass)
• tenax (strong): as in Phormium tenax (New Zealand flax)

Fritillaria imperialis (crown imperial)

For some botanists, giving a plant a majestic epithet was obviously a high compliment.

• imperiale or imperialis (imperial): as in Fritillaria imperialis (crown imperial)
• regius, regalis (royal): as in Juglans regia (English walnut) or Osmunda regalis (royal fern)
• reginae (queen): as in Agave victoriae-reginae (Queen Victoria agave)
• rex (king): as in Begonia rex (rex begonia)

For others, a plant’s beauty is worthy of an even higher power, or the plant itself may have sacred uses, indicated by benedictus (blessed) – as in Cnicus benedictus (blessed thistle) – or sanctus (holy) – as in Ocimum sanctum (holy basil).

Mirabilis jalapa ‘Marbles’ (four-o’clock)

To wrap up this group, here’s an assortment of epithets that relate to a wide variety of terrific traits:

• bonus (good): as in Chenopodium bonus-henricus (good king Henry)
• eximius (exceptional, superb): as in Dicentra eximia (wild bleeding heart)
• insigne or insignis (distinguished): as in Brugmansia x insignis (angel’s trumpet)
• magnificus (magnificent): as in Geranium x magnificum
• mirabile or mirabilis (remarkable): as in Mirabilis jalapa (four-o’clock)
• peregrinus (exotic, foreign): as in Comptonia peregrina (sweetfern)

Tulipa praestans ‘Unicum’

• praestans (distinguished, excellent): as in Tulipa praestans
• princeps (eminent): as in Galtonia princeps (summer hyacinth)
• vera or veris (true): as in Aloe vera (aloe) or Primula veris (cowslip)

Clearly, coming up with superlatives to describe lovely plants kept happy botanists of yore pretty busy. They obviously had bad days too, though, and when they couldn’t think of anything nice to say, they sometimes made use of these epithets indicating weakness, misery, or other undesirable qualities.

• debile or debilis (weak): as in Aristolochia debilis (Dutchman’s pipe)
• delicatus (delicate): as in Polemonium pulcherrimum subsp. delicata (Jacob’s ladder)
• fastuosus (proud, haughty): as in Datura fastuosa [D. metel] (angel’s trumpet)
• flaccidus (feeble, pendulous): as in Yucca flaccida (weak-leaved yucca)
• foetidus (foul-smelling): as in Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)

Helleborus foetidus (stinking hellebore)

• foetidissima (seriously foul-smelling): as in Iris foetidissima (stinking iris)
• fragile or fragilis (brittle): as in Cystopteris fragilis (fragile fern)
• hypochondriacus (melancholy): as in Amaranthus hypochondriacus (amaranth)
• nauseosus (strong- or foul-smelling): as in Chrysothamnus nauseosus (rabbitbrush)
• pudicus (shy, bashful): as in Mimosa pudica (sensitive plant)
• pusillus (tiny, insignificant): as in Trillium pusillum (least trillium or dwarf wakerobin)
• sterile or sterilis (sterile, barren): as in Bromus sterilis (poverty brome)
• tenellus (delicate): as in Prunus tenella (dwarf Russian almond)

Stipa tenuissima (Mexican feather grass)

• tenuis; tenuissima (thin; very thin): as in Juncus tenuis (slender rush) or Stipa [Nassella] tenuissima (Mexican feather grass)
• triste or tristis (dull, sad): as in Salix alba ‘Tristis’ (weeping willow) or Gladiolus tristis (ever-flowering gladiolus)

Gladiolus tristis (ever-flowering gladiolus)

• vomicus (foul, filthy): as in Strychnos nux-vomica (strychnine tree)
• vomitorius (emetic, used to induce vomiting): as in Ilex vomitoria (yaupon holly)

Ricinus communis ‘Carmencita’ (castor bean)

Busy botanists apparently got bored on occasion, as well, to the point that they weren’t much inspired to find interesting names for plants that were already widely known and grown, or for those that were generally undistinguished. So, they made free use of epithets for common and ordinary, including the following:

• commune or communis: as in Juniperus communis (common juniper) or Ricinus communis (castor bean)
• triviale or trivialis: as in Poa trivialis (rough bluegrass)
• usitatus, usitatissimus: as in Juncus usitatus or Linum usitatissimum (common flax)
• vulgare or vulgaris: as in Foeniculum vulgare (common fennel) or Aquilegia vulgaris (columbine)

Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Black Barlow’ (columbine)

When you get frustrated trying to tell similar plants apart or to keep all of these crazy names straight in your head, it’s nice to think that the folks who came up with these names sometimes had similar troubles, to the point that they even admitted it when assigning epithets.

Consolida ambigua (larkspur)

Here are some epithets they used for species that were in some way vague, confusing, or otherwise odd.

• ambiguus (doubtful): as in Consolida ambigua (larkspur)
• anomalus (unusual): as in Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris (climbing hydrangea)
• controversus (controversial): as in Cornus controversa (giant dogwood)

Eutrochium dubium ‘Little Joe’ (Joe-Pye weed)

• dubius (doubtful): as in Eutrochium [Eupatorium] dubium (Joe-Pye weed)
• fallax (deceptive): as in Colocasia fallax (dwarf elephant’s ear)
• mutabile or mutabilis (changeable): as in Nicotiana mutabilis (flowering tobacco)
• obscurus (obscure): as in Digitalis obscura (sunset foxglove)
• paradoxus (contrary to expectation): as in Echinacea paradoxa (yellow-flowered purple coneflower)
• spurius (false, deceptive): as in Sedum spurium (two-row stonecrop)

Nicotiana mutabilis (flowering tobacco)

Well, that’s more than enough nomenclature for now, I think. A final FYI for those of you who find this stuff interesting, though: Did you know that, thanks to The Linnean Society, you can access digitized versions of all of Linnaeus’ herbarium specimens? You can search the collection of over 14,000 specimens many different ways (by genus, specific epithet, collector, country, etc.), and when you find one of interest, you can magnify the pressed specimen to see a high level of detail. The site also includes Linnaeus’ fish, insect, and shell collection, as well as copies of over 4,000 letters he received from 600 different correspondents. It’s a fascinating place to spend a few hours poking around. You can find the main page here: The Linnean Collections.