Sacha wrote in message ...

Then may I politely suggest to you that this is a genuinely friendly
and
informative group, as I've found to my own benefit. But posting in
reply to
others suggesting there is some form of elitism here and that people
who use
Latin names are somehow showing off, isn't going to help your start on
the
group.
Please think of this - using Latin names for plants makes it easier for
all
of us to help each other because it's a universal language. Whatever a
plant is called in Northumbria, it might not be called here in Devon.
For
example, the weed (for which I do not know the Latin name) which I know
as
goosegrass, is known to others as cleavers and/or stickie willie!
Using
Latin names isn't some form of snobbery or exclusion process, it's more
helpful in the long term. That said, you don't have to know them to
post
here but you might find that you'll start to learn them and that by
doing
so, you'll expand what you came here for - gardening knowledge.
Relax. Most of us really do like to help where we can.
--
We also have to realise that. being the internet, we are read by people
from all over the world, and they may have the same common names for
plants as us, but those names may refer to totally different plants. We
do point out to people posting from other countries that our knowledge
is usually confined to the UK as we are a UK group, but we do get
regular posters from Sweden, Canada and other countries. The Latin names
are common throughput the world, and can therefore be our only means of
letting people know just what plant we are talking about.
Mike
www.british-naturism.org.uk