A Short Guide to Plant Names

A short guide I wrote for myself on Latin plant names (mainly stolen and truncated from Gardener’s World. Enjoy!

Genus and Species

The Latin (or botanical) name of a plant is binomial. The genus comes first, stylised with a capital letter, with the species second. For example, for the plant Rosa rugosa, Rosa is the genus and rugosa is the species. All plants within the same species can reproduce with each other.

Plant Families

Every genus of plants belongs to a family which share certain characteristics. It isn’t included in the binomial plant name but it is good to know in order to be more familiar with your plants.

Sub-species

If plants are different from their common counterparts, usually due to location, they are distinguished via a sub-species tag after the plant name. For example, Anthemis punctata subsp. cupaniana is a sub-species of Anthemis punctata.

Variety

If there is a naturally occuring variation of the main species it is differentiated by the variety tag. Geranium sanguineum var. striatum is a variety of cranesbill.

Cultivar

If plants come about through the cultivation two related plants (rather than from the wild) is called a cultivar. While all other tags are written in Latin, the cultivar name is a modern language. Since sometimes the parents’ names are not known only the genus and cultivar names are used.

Forma

A forma tag is used to distinguish minor differences to the species.

Example from Gardener’s World

Plant names can tell you more about the plant. Lavandula angustifolia ‘Nana Alba’ has narrow leaves (angustifolia) and is compact (‘Nana’) with white flowers (‘Alba’). Here are some common words:

Colour

alba/albus - white

caerulea/caeruleus - blue

coccinea/coccineus - scarlet

argentea - silver

Habitat

alpina/alpinus - alpine

campestris - field

maritima - coastal

montana - mountain

pratensis - meadow

sylvatica - forest

Characteristics

angustifolia - narrow leaves

fragans/fragrantissima - scented

foetida/foetidus - smelly (unpleasant)

grandiflora - large-flowered

nana - small, compact

odorata - perfumed

officinalis - has herbal uses

tomentosum - hairy, downy

Habit

columnaris - columnar

dentata - toothed

fruticosa - bushy

gracilis - slender

reptans - creeping

scandens - climbing

Country or area of origin

chinensis - China

japonica - Japan

sibiricus - Siberia

occidentalis - America

orientalis - Asia