In message , BoyPete
writes
I've lurked for ages, just posting occasionally. I do hope my pond
orientated posts don't annoy. My garden is about 20ft square, nearly half is
pond now. Most people here seem to be 'real' gardeners, something I'd love
to be if I had the room! I dream of retiring to a large old house with half
an acre..........yeah.....dream on. In the past, I've grown carrots, Swede,
peas, runner beans, lettuce etc, but until recently, especially sweet
corn......great picked and straight on the BBQ Now, I only have pots
Something which bugs me, is the use of the Latin names for plants. I
realise that if you are really into gardening, these things are important,
but to the likes of me........an interested wannabe, they are meaningless.
It would be nice if folk could call plants by their 'common' name perhaps
with the Latin in brackets? What do you think? Thanks for a great friendly
group.

The problem with common names is sometimes there are several different
vernacular names that apply to a single plant (I've recorded 13 applying
to Lagunaria patersonia), and sometimes one vernacular name applies to
several plants, and sometimes both at once. The situation with botanical
names is not perfect, but not as potentially confusing as with
vernacular names.

Many botanical names are used happily by people who don't necessarily
realise that they are using them - for example Geranium (cranesbill,
when not being used for Pelargonium), Aster (michaelmas daisies, etc,
but also used for several other genera such as Callistephus, Stokesia
and Tithonia), Hibiscus, Chrysanthemum (except that the botanists now
call the florists' chrysanthemums Dendranthema), Dahlia, Thuja,
Cotoneaster, Pyracantha (firethorn), Amelanchier (juneberry?),
Narcissus, Gladiolus (sword lily), Hosta (plantain lily), Agapanthus
(African lily), ...
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley