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Old 08-03-2003, 03:22 PM
Phred
 
Posts: n/a
Default Vernacular versus binomial [Was: botanical names of some Indian trees]

In article ,
"P van Rijckevorsel" wrote:
Matching botanical names to vernacular names is a hazardous undertaking.


Yeah. This used top be rubbed into us in first year botany at Univ.
of Queensland. The example was usually given of eucalypts called
"mountain ash" (IIRC 8-). In one part of southern Australia this was
a splendid tree (_E. regnans_) attaining up to 100 metres tall (see
e.g. http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/forest/plants/ash.html )
Elsewhere, other species of "mountain ash" were nowhere near as useful
for timber -- much to the chagrin of a company which allegedly ordered
a boatload of "mountain ash" from the wrong colony in the dim past!

Of course, in recent times, practising agronomists and similar have
become so dissatisfied with continuing botanical revisions that we now
regard common names as the only long term standards! ;-)

More dangerous than walking on the wings of an airplane (while up in the
air). For example "jati" can be matched to multiple plants, the best known
of which appears Myristica fragrans. The "kesara" is among Indian names for
Mesua ferrea
PvR

PS "djati" is the Indonesian (Javan?, Malay?) name for teak. Exported to
Africa as "kiaat" (Pterocarpus spp)

Alexandra Kafka schreef
I am in search for the botanical names of these Indian trees:
malati (mAlati, maalati), mallika (mallikA, mallikaa), jati (jAtI,
jaatii), kesara, padma.
Has someone information?

Kind regards,
Alexandra Kafka



Cheers, Phred.

--
LID