Common names are locally-used names. Nobody standardizes them. So it is easy for people to use the same common name for different plants.
 |
| marigolds, genus Tagetes |
Marigolds
Marigold is an easy example. It is a combination of "Mary" and "gold" so would be "Mary's golden flower". Europeans, honoring the Virgin Mary, stuck marigold on a variety of local plants in particular Calendula species, now called calendula or pot marigold (sunflower family, Asteraceae), marsh marigold (Caltha palustris, buttercup family Ranunculaceae) and corn marigold (Glebionis segetum, sunflower family). After the Reformation, Protestants easily transferred the "Mary" to various queens. Calendula officinalis was an important plant, usually "the" marigold. But in the early 1500's another plant arrived from Central America, with nice yellow or orange flowers. Coming to England indirectly, from North Africa and France (after arriving in Spain), the English called these marigolds too, African marigold (Tagetes erecta) and French marigold (Tagetes patula) (sunflower family). So popular were these New World plants that they were carried around the world--to India, China, Australia--with the name marigold. Today, most people think of a Tagetes species when they hear "marigold."
 |
| pot marigold, Calendula officinalis |
When reading the literature, especially online, be careful. Marigold is not the same as pot marigold or marsh marigold. And, especially, for more than 1,000 years "marigold" in Europe was Calendula officinalis. Unwary writers have seen "marigold" in Medieval European literature and assumed it was a modern marigold, Tagetes, when at that time, it could not have been.
 |
| marsh marigold, Calthea palustris |
Mountain Ashes
Mountain ash is a widely used common name for trees also called rowans, genus Sorbus, which includes American mountain ash Sorbus americana, Europe mountain ash, Sorbus aucuparia, and others, in the rose family, Rosaceae. That is clear and unambiguous in the British Isles and North America. In Australia, however, mountain ash is a eucalyptus, in fact Eucalyptus regnans, the tallest flowering plant in the world (One tree,Centurion, in Tasmania, is 100 m. tall). Eucalyptus regnans needs rain forest conditions, so is not likely to show up in Britain or North America, but if you are in Australia prepare to be impressed by the grand tree they call mountain ash.
 |
| Sorbus, mountain ash |
 |
| Eucalyptus regnans, mountain ash |
Bugleweeds
For me, bugleweed is a hardy little plant, native to Europe, that forms an attractive ground cover, producing bright blue flowers in the spring, Ajuga reptans (mint family, Lamiaceae). But bugleweed is also the common name of Lycopus virginicus (also mint family), an American wildflower that grows to three feet tall, too tall to be thought of as a ground cover. Both are minor medicinal herbs, used for many of the same ailments (blood pressure, throat aiments). I presume the name confusion resulted from settlers trying Virginia bugleweed and then using it as they used bugleweed (Ajuga) in Europe. Lycopus is also called water-horehound, American water horehound, and sweet bugleweed. Online, some websites seem to confuse the two, showing photos of the tall Virginia bugleweed with its white flowers and describing it as a creeping plant with blue flowers. Be careful.
 |
| Ajuga reptans, bugleweed |
 |
| Lycopus virginicus, bugleweed |
Loosestrife is the common name of two very different groups of plants, both native to Europe. When I google "loosestrife" what comes up are yellow-flowered plants of the genus Lysimachia (primrose family, Primulaceae). There are 138 species in the genus Lysimachia. Several are clearly garden favorites, but the best-known is probably Lysimachia nummularia, also called creeping Jenny and a problematic lawn weed.
 |
| Lysimachia nummularia, loosestrife, aka creeping Jenny |
 |
| gooseneck yellow loosestrife, Lysimachia clethroides |
Also called loosestrife is Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife family, Lythraceae) and its close relatives (38 species of Lythrum). They have bright spikes of purple flowers, so are called purple loosestrifes. In North America, this is an invasive species of wetlands. It crowds out native plants and is not of much use to wildlife. States in the northern Midwest have labeled it a noxious weed.
 |
| purple loosestrife, Lythrum, along a stream in Ireland |
The two groups of plants, one with yellow flowers, one with purple, are easy to tell apart but it can be a surprise online to find yourself reading about the other kind of loosestrife. (Loosestrife, by the way, is believed to mean "lose strife," that is, make peace.)
Scientific names were created to deal with this problem. Each species of plant has one and only one scientific name. The problem is when we don't know there are two plant species that share a common name and assume the writer is writing about the one we know. This post alerts you that you might need to check for scientific names in posts about marigolds, mountain ash, bugleweeds and loosestrife.Comments and corrections welcome.
More about marigolds Plant Confusions Marigolds and Calendulas link ; Marigolds from the Americas link; Marigolds in History: Pot Marigolds (Calendulas) link
European mountain ash Rowan Sorbus aucuparia link
More about the bugleweeds link
More about Creeping jenny, link
No comments:
Post a Comment