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

[ Snipped stuff on _Eucalyptus_ mountain ashes. ]

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! ;-)

For some plants there are standardized common names, mostly commercially
important ones, and, yes, sometimes these are more stable than botanical
ones. However it is not only binary names that are at risk. Many families
are reduced to subfamilies and some of them change their names in the
process as well ...

Here in Oz the CSIRO has published a list of "Standardised Names"
covering a wide range of plants, both native and exotic, occurring
here and of some economic significance (crops, weeds, ornamentals,
traditional, etc.) There have been at least two editions.

Names I especially like are "Silent rattlepod" for a _Crotalaria_
species and "Dog's balls" for _Grewia_. (Though I can't swear these
have survived into the latest edition, in this more politically
correct and less whimsical age. :-)


Cheers, Phred.

--
LID