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Why Latin names matter

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  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    I want to buy a daisy please?
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Have a look at those ones over there and see which one you like.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Thank you.
    Could you tell me why my Geranium is wilting, and my poppy has died, will it come back next year?
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I don't know. I'm usually on the Christmas tat counter.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • madpenguinmadpenguin Posts: 2,543
    Can't we just use both common and Latin names depending on who we are talking too?
    Insisting on Latin names for a beginner could be off putting when starting out.
    My knowledge of Latin names has grown over the years,and of course now some of those are being changed so my Sedum is now Hylotelephium,Phedimus,Rhodiola,Prometheum,Petrosedum,Orostachys as well as Sedum!...all very confusing!!

    Life's too short for all this pontificating,just enjoy the flowers and remember that nature did not give them names.

    “Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Madpenguin. I agree with you entirely. I am fascinated by the meanings of the Latin names and some of them stick.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Common names have their own history and interest and should certainly be retained but there are colloquial, regional and national differences within the UK, let alone Europe and the rest of the world so, and this is the point of this thread surely, if you want an accurate ID for a plant and thus the key to research its cultivation needs and hardiness and thus how best to source, grow, prune and propagate it, you really do need the botanical name.

    As has has been said higher up, some poppies are annuals, some are perennials and some aren't poppies at all.  They are not alone in this respect.   Stubbornly insisting that a common name is enough is just blinkered nonsense.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    At the risk of being shot down in flames, I am going to make a stand for common names.  


    And where do you stand on geraniums?
    Usually right in the middle of 'em Dove - when I'm trying to reach summat else that needs hoiking out .... :D
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    I never stand on geraniums, always on something much more delicate. :) 


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Are you sure you mean geraniums?
    I don't want to be elitist, but.......
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
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