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Botanary - brilliant online botanic dictionary

I stumbled across this awesome botanic dictionary the other day, and have been using it quite a lot ever since, so thought I'd share:


I'm fine with the first latin name of a plant, but have always struggled with the second part (eg Sanguisorba tenuifolia, Ribes sanguineum). In most instances, the second part is quite useful in finding out more about the nature of the plant, ie distinctive features etc, but not being fluent in latin (!) it's generally a minefield, and never sticks in my brain. Well, not any more!

Admittedly this site is not going to be of interest to everyone, but to those who are interested in what all those pesky latin names (that aren't obvious) mean, fill your boots. :)

Posts

  • K67K67 Posts: 2,506
    I think @ashley13 might find this useful.
    Thanks for posting, will be bookmarking the site.
  • chickychicky Posts: 10,410
    Thankyou @Anna33 ....really useful

    I also use the book “plant names simplified” (Johnson, Smith and Stockdale) ...I find that once you know what the latin names mean, they are so much easier to remember.  Sanguineum = bright red ....sorted 👍🏻
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    With 20,890 entries and no way of searching, as far as I could see, other than by first letter I fear many would be overwhelmed by this resource. Its comprehensiveness is also its Achilles’ heel.

    My favourite book on this theme because of its emphasis on some quirky etymologies is Parker’s ‘A little book of Latin for gardeners’.
    Rutland, England
  • My mate Bob ran away from the Army and joined the French Foreign Legion ( says it all really eh? ) now, most folk would guess that being the "French" Foreign Legion - they'd all speak French, ( well, yes a lot of the Staff do) but Legionaires have to use a weird form of German and this was taught rapidly by enforced physical jerks in desert sunshine until sufficiently fluency. All Legionaires are supposed to have joined to forget something, Bob signed on for another five years to forget the first! 
    When I began professional horticultural training I joined a very old fashioned nursery - even the wages dated back to 1835! Nothing was wasted, seedtrays and boxes were all wooden and repaired many times and when finally giving up the ghost had their staves separated - they'd then be painted and used as big labels. When I think of plant names I still have a tendency to turn my head on one side to read the vertical label. 
    I was expected to learn a hundred new names every week and was interrogated by the "Old Man" on pay day. Each winter a large order of stock would arrive from the Netherlands in huge wicker baskets often necessitating new labels.... oh Joy of Joys! 
  • clarke.bruntclarke.brunt Posts: 215
    edited March 2021
    ...no way of searching, as far as I could see
    There's a big search box at the top, at least in my browser. I just tried 'candida' as I've never been certain whether it was 'white' or 'pretty' - 'white / glittering' says the site.

    As for the 'jokes' botanists get up to (possibly while drunk?):

    There is a nice cactus, in the genus Copiapoa, which was known to everyone who passed by its location in Chile, but it didn't have a name for ages. It was known (and was in cultivation) only under a 'collection number' RMF xxxx, with RMF being the initials of the person who collected it.

    A name was eventually published. Copiapoa ahremephiana. In case you don't 'get it', that pseudo-latin is supposed to sound like the letters R M F when pronounced, with the '-iana' being the traditional ending when the name is 'in honour of' someone.

    So that disgusting name says nothing about the appearance of the plant or where it comes from, it only works at all if you're an English speaker - tough luck if you're not - I pity the mainly Spanish-speaking inhabitants if Chile trying to make sense of it, where the three letters would be pronounced 'ere eme efe'. And not surprisingly, it isn't in the online dictionary we're talking about - it asks whether I mean "rumphiana" - to honour Georg Everhard Rumpf. I suppose that's a precedent for the 'ph' thing.

    P.S. I should have said, the existing cactus genus Copiapoa is in the dictionary - originating from the large Chilean town of Copiapó.


  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    edited March 2021
    Searching ... quite right, clarke. Doh!

    Apropos that cactus, the Toyota MR2 (merdre) was never going to sell well in France and was rebranded MR. For very similar reasons the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud was going to be called the Silver Mist until it was pointed out sales would plummet in Germany. And should folk have a penchant for scatalogical etymology, the Dutch origin of poppycock is interesting.
    Rutland, England
  • Keeping to the theme of car names for a moment - rumour has it that the Japanese model "Turano" ( don't get at me if that's spelt wrong, I care very little for what cars are called) was a mistake - well, actually about 10,000 mistakes because someone with a pronounced Japanese accent called the label making company rather than send them written confirmation (yes, I know this sounds weak but hey ho, it makes a good shaggy dog story) he couldn't pronounce the word "Tornado" that the test audience folk had preferred. Production was rolling so the rolled with it.

    As for plants and their binomials - think how it started ( yes, I know, another arguement) but Carl Linnaeus (Linn) features prominently and he had rather a thing about sexual bits and rather mischievously thought up names such as Clitoria so he could bring otherwise explicit language into polite dinning rooms. 

    If I was to describe a new delicate flower I'd be tempted to name it Sussexia Megansis - an amazing discovery from the New World, outwardly beautiful but culture very difficult outside it's native environment, has a tendency to crowd out companion plants. Hybrid crosses are in development. 
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