Botanical Names Demystified Let’s face it; scientific names are hard to remember. Professional botanists smushed together words from ancient languages, proper nouns, and plant descriptions to create a name unique to a plant species. While common names can vary across regions, scientific names are distinct to a given plant species. For example, Coreopsis palmata is called prairie coreopsis in Illinois but is called tickseed in Missouri. So like it or not, scientific names are here to stay. Here are five explanations of scientific names to help make botanical names easier to remember (and a little fun).
swamp milkweed
prairie coreopsis
Common Name: prairie coreopsis or tickseed Scientific Name: Coreopsis palmata Definitions: Coreopsis is ancient Greek for resembling a tick in reference to the tick-like appearance of the mature seeds. Palmata is a reference to the leaves resembling an outstretched hand.
Missouri evening primrose
Common Name: swamp or rose flower-visiting insects in history milkweed and remain essential pollinators Scientific Name: today. Beetles are Asclepias attracted mostly incarnata to flowers that emit musky, yeasty, Definitions: Asclepias is spicy, rotten, or fermented odors. derived from an ancient Greek, They can be clumsy so known they prefer Aesculapius, who was for his knowledge of the medicinal sturdy, large flowers, clusters of properties of plants. flowers, and large cup shaped Incarnata flowers thatdescribes are easyflesh-colored for them to flowers. access. Magnolias and spicebush are a couple of the most common beetle-pollinated plants, they also like pond lilies and goldenrods.
Moths
wild columbine
Common Name: wild columbine Scientific Name: Aquilegia canadensis Definitions: Aquilegia means eagle’s claw and refers to the spur on the back of the flowers. Canadensis means the species was originally described in Canada. Columbine refers to the spur of the flower resembling the silhouette of a dove.
Common Name: Missouri evening primrose Scientific Name: Oenothera macrocarpa Definitions: Oenothera refers to the wine-scented flowers. Macrocarpa describes the two- to three-inch seed pods produced by this species.
In the state of Illinois alone there are more than 1,850 known species of moths—more than ten times the diversity of butterflies. Recent research from University College London, shows that moths are likely major players in many pollination purple coneflower networks. UCL researchers determined moths transported Common Name: purple coneflower pollen, mostly on their hairy bellies, Scientific Name: Echinacea from many different plant species, purpurea including flowers that picky bees skip Definitions: Echinacea translates over. It is important to note that not to “hedgehog” in reference to the all prickly mothsflower are nocturnal. head. AsPurpurea, the frigidbelieve winteritwinds pass and or not, means purple. the unpredictable temperature
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