@punkdoc this is what confuses me no end - if I go to the RHS (plant search - not shop - https://www.rhs.org.uk/Search?query=london pride) and put in london pride - I get two different things (that appear to be the same) - one called x urbium and the other primuloides. Aaaaaaarrrrgghhhh.
@josusa47 I honestly don't want to know what it tastes like!
And to throw a spanner in the works (although spanner’s probably not the right metaphor when we’re talking IT) beware of labelling in garden centres ... some still insist on labelling Pelargoniums as Geraniums ... they know that’s not correct but they think that gardeners are too stuck in their ways to learn something new ... 🙄
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
@punkdoc this is what confuses me no end - if I go to the RHS (plant search - not shop - https://www.rhs.org.uk/Search?query=london pride) and put in london pride - I get two different things (that appear to be the same) - one called x urbium and the other primuloides. Aaaaaaarrrrgghhhh.
That exactly illustrates the fact that using common names for plants is confusing. The only valid way to name plants is to use their scientific/botanical/Latin name.
"I get two different things (that appear to be the same)" No, they are different.
That exactly illustrates the fact that using common names for plants is confusing. The only valid way to name plants is to use their scientific/botanical/Latin name.
Until the botanists change their minds and tell us the old name was a mistake and we must start calling it something different. I remember when the native bluebell was Endymion non-scripta, and now it's Hyacinthoides non-scripta. Not arguing with you, @Papi Jo, just saying.
If we want to be really nit-picking, "Latin" names often aren't real Latin at all, but "Latinised" versions of where they were first found, or the name of the person who first found them growing wild and described them in a learned journal.
And of course, we all observe the convention that scientific names must be written in italics where possible, underlined if not, the genus name is always capitalised but not the species.
@steveTu Latin is a phonetic language meaning that you can tell how to read it if you know the sounds connected to each letter and several simple rules. Which makes it significantly easier to read than English But it changed during its history and also depending on the location.
The v/w in veni, vidi, vici was actually pronounced as w in classical Latin (and c had the hard, k, sound). I guess that the later/ecclesiastical/medieval Latin was used mostly as a written language and pronunciation varied. C got softened to ch sound in some countries and ts or s sound in other countries, and similarly with v/w. So I've been taught vitsi (both "i"s long) and you've been probably taught wichi.
I have no idea what that means for the pronunciation of plant names
@Papi Jo - Good stuff - are you Linux based then? I got my kids to use Open/Libreoffice under MS. The stuff I'm doing is based in a language called Genero with a Postgresql database on a Linux box.
Same as you though - I do a bit of photography, have been thrown in the deep end with the garden - and spent my life in IT (either designing and writing software or running teams that did).
It is an issue that has occurred frequently on this site. The problem is that any given plant may have hundreds of common names, so the botanical name is essential, to avoid confusion. Despite being called elitist for saying this, I will not budge.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
It is an issue that has occurred frequently on this site. The problem is that any given plant may have hundreds of common names, so the botanical name is essential, to avoid confusion. Despite being called elitist for saying this, I will not budge.
This is not being elitist , it is being sensible .
Far too many localised , common and vernacular names wrongly applied to too many plants .
Using botanical names at all times avoids any confusion , so we all know what we're talking about .
A recent post mentioned something called Yorkshire Fog ; no idea what they were talking about until I googled and discovered Holcus lanatus .
I get that, but surely showing 'London Pride' and then in brackets or in a smaller font or.. showing the 'technical' name would help everyone. As even with the simpler plants (like London Pride) there seems to be differing varieties.
I've been doing some research on this and although most people consider London Pride to be one plant, Saxifraga x Urbium, the name actually encompases the whole Gymnopera group of saxifrages. This includes four species with sub-species for each, plus quite a few hybrids and cultivars.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Posts
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Until the botanists change their minds and tell us the old name was a mistake and we must start calling it something different. I remember when the native bluebell was Endymion non-scripta, and now it's Hyacinthoides non-scripta. Not arguing with you, @Papi Jo, just saying.
If we want to be really nit-picking, "Latin" names often aren't real Latin at all, but "Latinised" versions of where they were first found, or the name of the person who first found them growing wild and described them in a learned journal.
And of course, we all observe the convention that scientific names must be written in italics where possible, underlined if not, the genus name is always capitalised but not the species.
The problem is that any given plant may have hundreds of common names, so the botanical name is essential, to avoid confusion. Despite being called elitist for saying this, I will not budge.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border