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The language of flowers (Filed: 12/06/2001)

Introducing a new series, classicist Peter Jones begins to translate

A Swede, Carl Linnaeus (1707- 1778), was the man responsible for our system of naming plants. Before him, plant-naming was in chaos, with everyone doing their own thing, in different styles.

Here, for example, is the definition of a grass given by the great French botanist Turnefort (1700): Gramen Xerampelinum, Miliacea, praetenui, ramosaque sparsa panicula, sive Xerampelino congener, arvense, aestivum, Gramen minutissimo semine. This translates literally as "Dry-vine grass, with millet-like, thin, many-branched, sparse panicle; or else, belonging to the dry-vine genus, growing in cultivated fields, developing in the summer, grass with a very small seed".

The description is precisely observed, but quite impractical for everyday use. Thanks to Linnaeus, it is now known as Poa bulbosa, and the queues at garden centres are all the shorter for it.

Botany, the science of classifying plants, was invented by the ancient Greek Theophrastus (372-287 BC) and gets its name from the Greek word for a herb, weed or plant. Theophrastus was a brilliant observer and was the first to classify plants by their physical features such as sap, roots, leaves, buds, flowers and fruits. But his work was not continued.

The ancients were a practical people and were more interested in what plants could do for them - in other words, plants as remedies for illness. So ancient descriptions tended to concentrate solely on their medical properties.

Botany took off in Europe during the scientific revolution of the 16th century and, since Latin was the language of education and scholarship, it was natural that botanists should turn for their terminology to medieval and classical Latin (though they also threw in some ancient Greek). Linnaeus's lasting achievement was to impose order on the chaos that resulted - most importantly, through his binomial ("two-name") system of classification.

The principle of the system is simple. It identifies a broad, generic type of plant (the genus - Latin for "birth, kind or class") and then gives it a specific name (its species, meaning "appearance" or "special nature").

Here, for example, is the genus Rhododendron. This species has blood-red flowers, so we shall call it R. haematodes (from the Greek meaning "bloody"); this species has felted leaves, so we shall call it R. lanigerum, "wool-bearing" (Latin lana, "wool"). Note that the genus always begins with a capital letter; the specific name with a minuscule. After the specific, other descriptors can be added to make further distinctions.

Where do the names of plants come from? Well, many are lifted direct from Latin or Greek: anemone, asparagus, crocus, cyclamen, rose, lily and violet, together with such genus names as Achillea, Cassia, Daphne, Narcissus.

Other names commemorate the famous: Fuchsia after the 16th-century German herbalist Leonhart Fuchs; Forsythia after William Forsyth (1737-1804), superintendent of the Royal Gardens of Kensington Palace. Note the latinised "-ia" endings.

Often, names in their Latin forms can tell us where plants come from, such as persica ("from Persia", modern Iran) or japonica ("from Japan"). Sometimes, they specify a shape, colour, texture, or size, as with fusiformis ("spindle-shaped", from the Latin fusus, meaning spindle - that is, thick in the middle and thin at either end). Often, they celebrate the man who first identified them, such as forrestii in honour of Scottish plant-collector George Forrest (1873-1932), who scoured western China for specimens.

At this point, the sceptic might object that if persica just means "Persian", why not just say "Persian"? Likewise, Anthriscus sylvestris already has the perfectly good name of cow parsley and Caltha palustris is simply marsh marigold. Why not just use English throughout?

The answer is that for everyday gardeners, there is no reason why not. But the full Latin naming system is universal and transcends modern languages and colloquial names: all botanists, whatever nationality, speak the same language. Experts also say that describing plants in Latin produces greater clarity and less ambiguity than in English. And in addition, the Linnaean system is is also enormously enjoyable. The purpose of this new fortnightly series is to show just how much so.

Next week: How the peony was named.

Peter Jones's books, 'Learn Latin' (Duckworth 1997) and 'Learn Ancient Greek' (Duckworth 1998), first appeared as the weekly columns QED and Eureka in 'Electronic Telegraph'. To start learning Latin click here or start learning Ancient Greek by clicking here.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2001

Answers

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-- Anonymous, June 15, 2001