Understanding Botanical and Horticultural Names

During this workshop on plant nomenclature, students will have the opportunity to sort out the confusion associated with plant names. We will discuss common names, binomial scientific names, and the history of nomenclature since Linnaeus. The current rules of nomenclature will be reviewed, and we’ll see why and how plant names sometimes change. We will then look at a variety of plant names and try to deduce whether they give clues to the plant’s characteristics. Attention will also be given to the names of species and hybrids in cultivation and the meaning of cultivar names. This course is equivalent to “Introduction to Plant Systematics” – module one of the five-part series in plant systematics. Cosponsored with Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.

Sunday, November 16, 2008, 1-4 pm