Whenever you get any vast numbers of things which need to be
identified quickly and easily it is necessary to have as foolproof a
system as possible, understood by everyone. Your nickname,
Christian name or even the addition of a surname is not enough
but needs the addition of a precise address for letters to reach you
promptly day after day. The Army, for instance, has numerous
divisions: Commands, Armies, Divisions, Corps, Battalions, Companies, etc., and numerous individual ranks. The system enables
the humblest private to be specifically identified and promptly
located; instead of the simple name by which he is known to his
friends, however, he has to have a Rank, Number, Surname and
initials and the particulars of his unit.
Exactly the same thing is done for the army of plants. There
are tens of thousands of species all over the world, and they are
classified into Classes and then sub-divided as follows:
Because every language is involved even this careful system would
be chaotic unless a common language was agreed throughout the
world, and Latin was found to be ideal for the part. Instead of
one particular plant having a confusion of names, it has, under
this system, only one specific name wherever you are in the world.
Flowers, therefore, can truly be considered to have a universal
language in more senses than one. Furthermore, this very
common-sense arrangement is extremely helpful, because in addition to a precise name it usually tells you quite a lot about the
plant.
HOW A PLANT IS NAMED
Every botanical name consists of at least two words, viz.:
(i) The generic name. This is the name common to the entire
species and is always printed first. Comparable to our
family or surname.
(ii) The specific name(s). These are comparable to our
Christian names, but in the plant world they are nearly
always descriptive of the particular plant such as colour,
characteristic growth, country or place of origin, or to
commemorate a person or the discoverer, etc. In the latter
case, the person's name is usually Latinized and always
printed with a capital initial.
DESCRIPTIVE VALUES OF A NAME
Quite a lot of useful information can be conveyed in a plant's
name. The generic name Saxifrage comes from two Latin words,
saxum (stone) and frangere (to break), and how better could be
described a plant which loves to grow in the clefts between stones?
Some of the surnames commemorated hide thrilling stories of
adventure and exploration in all parts of the world. A not un common prefix of a specific name is arachna-which means "like a
spider's cobweb."
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