BoyPete wrote:
Yes, I understand that now. Still, it's very off-putting to the likes
of me to see all that Latin in a post, and I tend to skip
them.....possibly missing some useful info.

Yes... "foetida" means the plant smells awful! We still have foetid in
common usage in English. Paederia foetida (Skunk vine) smells like skunks.
Much of English has come from Latin. Many latin names have colours in them,
alba for white, nigra for black. Or clues as to habit, tortuosa, contorta
and prostrata for tortuous, contorted and prostrate. Names crop up too...
anything with williamsii in the name was discovered and catalogued by a chap
called Williams for instance.

Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) started naming plants with two latin names. The
first one being the genus. This just means a group of plants with the same
characteristics. Malus is the group name for apples. Malus domestica is the
domesticated apple we grow for fruit. But Malus sylvestris is the common
crab apple.

I enjoy learning the names, what they mean and getting my tongue round them.
It adds some depth to the hobby. Many interesting links crop up that may
suprise too. The genus Solanum is one...

Solanum tuberosum - Potato
" capsicum - Chilli
" lycopersicum -Tomato
" melongena - Aubergine

If you didn't know the latin would you have thought all these could be
related? (In fact the flowers are a dead giveaway, they all look like old
fashioned turks headgear. It was the characteristics of flowers ie; number
of petals, stamen ect. that Linnaeus first used to catagorise plant groups)

Here's wikipedia on Solanum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum and on the
right hand side of the page you can see the classification order of plants
from Kingdom (Plantae) all the way down to Genus (Solanum). All organisms
are named in much the same way.... Rattus norvegicus is the Brown rat for
example but under the kindom of Animalia down to the Genus Rattus.

And the RHS on plant naming...
http://www.rhs.org.uk/RHSPlantFinder/plantnaming.asp


Les






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Les Hemmings a.a #2251 SA

In article ,
"Les Hemmings" writes:
|
| I enjoy learning the names, what they mean and getting my tongue round them.
| It adds some depth to the hobby. Many interesting links crop up that may
| suprise too. The genus Solanum is one...
|
| Solanum tuberosum - Potato
| " capsicum - Chilli
| " lycopersicum -Tomato
| " melongena - Aubergine

Well, that's one classification. In others, chillis and tomatoes are
in separate species. And there is considerable debate over exactly
how chillis should be classified (as there is with squashes).

If you take the classifications as any more than a convenience, you
will assuredly go mad. There ARE important scientific reasons to
prefer one classification over another, but they are largely
irrelevant to anyone except the more academic botanists.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In message , Nick Maclaren
writes

In article ,
"Les Hemmings" writes:
|
| I enjoy learning the names, what they mean and getting my tongue
|round them.
| It adds some depth to the hobby. Many interesting links crop up that may
| suprise too. The genus Solanum is one...
|
| Solanum tuberosum - Potato
| " capsicum - Chilli
| " lycopersicum -Tomato
| " melongena - Aubergine

Well, that's one classification. In others, chillis and tomatoes are
in separate species. And there is considerable debate over exactly
how chillis should be classified (as there is with squashes).

DNA data has tomato deep within Solanum - in fact as closer to potatoes
that are many other unquestioned species of Solanum - which is why the
botanists have moved tomatoes back into Solanum.

However, Solanum capsicum isn't chilli; it's Jerusalem Cherry. Chillis
are Capsicum species, and belong to the same group of Solanaceae as
Solanum, but within any concept of Solanum with any degree of
acceptance.

If you take the classifications as any more than a convenience, you
will assuredly go mad. There ARE important scientific reasons to
prefer one classification over another, but they are largely
irrelevant to anyone except the more academic botanists.

--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

In article ,
Stewart Robert Hinsley writes:
|
| DNA data has tomato deep within Solanum - in fact as closer to potatoes
| that are many other unquestioned species of Solanum - which is why the
| botanists have moved tomatoes back into Solanum.

Interesting. It doesn't surprise me - I never did understand why it
was separated, because there is so much in common. Anyway, that is
another "Who gives a damn?" reclassification, as it will cause no
confusion - after all, it is only reverting to an older usage,
except that I think that it was Solanum something-else :-)

| However, Solanum capsicum isn't chilli; it's Jerusalem Cherry. Chillis
| are Capsicum species, and belong to the same group of Solanaceae as
| Solanum, but within any concept of Solanum with any degree of
| acceptance.

Er, Star Capsicum, surely? Jerusalem Cherry is S. pseudocapsicum in
all my books. Or have the species been merged?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In message , Nick Maclaren
writes

In article ,
Stewart Robert Hinsley writes:
|
| DNA data has tomato deep within Solanum - in fact as closer to potatoes
| that are many other unquestioned species of Solanum - which is why the
| botanists have moved tomatoes back into Solanum.

Interesting. It doesn't surprise me - I never did understand why it
was separated, because there is so much in common. Anyway, that is
another "Who gives a damn?" reclassification, as it will cause no
confusion - after all, it is only reverting to an older usage,
except that I think that it was Solanum something-else :-)

| However, Solanum capsicum isn't chilli; it's Jerusalem Cherry. Chillis
| are Capsicum species, and belong to the same group of Solanaceae as
| Solanum, but within any concept of Solanum with any degree of
| acceptance.

Er, Star Capsicum, surely? Jerusalem Cherry is S. pseudocapsicum in
all my books. Or have the species been merged?

Perhaps I shouldn't believe all I read on the web, but hits for "Solanum
capsicum" were either coming up with Jerusalem Cherry, or wtih a list of
generic names. Maybe this is another case of the vagaries of vernacular
names. In any case Solanum capsicum is not a chilli.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:

However, Solanum capsicum isn't chilli; it's Jerusalem Cherry. Chillis
are Capsicum species, and belong to the same group of Solanaceae as
Solanum, but within any concept of Solanum with any degree of
acceptance.


You're right.... and the error started out here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum. See the entry under "Species" for S.
capsicum. It's even a link to the page for the genus Capsicum. I was on
autopilot i think... saw Capsicum and Chilli together and missed the
difference between Solanaceae and Solanum.

Perhaps a wiki edit is in order!

Les

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Remove Frontal Lobes to reply direct.


"Oh Bother!" said the Borg, "We've assimilated Pooh!"

"That's 10 times I've explained binary to you. I won't tell you a 3rd
time!"


http://armsofmorpheus.blogspot.com/

http://www.richarddawkins.net/index.php


Les Hemmings a.a #2251 SA

In message , Les Hemmings
writes

Perhaps a wiki edit is in order!

Done.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley