Plant Story--Silky-leaved Lamb's Ears, Stachys byzantina

Lamb's ears, Stachys byzantina, is a mint brought from Tuirkey, Armenia, Iran, and Azerbaijan in western Asia, to be a garden plant.

lamb's ears, Stachys byzantina

Indigenous Knowledge and Problematic Common Names

Language steadily changes. Words are added because we have new things to describe. Meanings shift. I just read Moult’s Relation, a record of the Plymouth Colony, 1620. Relation in the title is “what Moult related” but it sounds really weird to me. In it, a rope trap to catch a deer was described as “as artificially made as by any roper in England”—the writer clearly meant "skillfully" so artificial's meaning has shifted.

Hopi tea, greenthread, Thelesperma megapotamicum

Naturally, we have plant common names whose meanings or nuances have changed. Some are insulting or objected to by the people they refer to. People regularly suggest changing ones they don’t like. The American Public Garden Association (link) asked for input and in 2021 published a report on “Potentially Problematic Common Names in North American Public Gardens”. They found a long list of “potentially problematic” words, noting, that “… words may seem completely benign to one group, culture, or language while holding offensive and egregious connotations for another.” (p. 26 )

Plant Story--Red Yucca, Hesperaloe parviflora, a Very Handsome Plant

I saw red yucca in bud or flower all over the Dallas Fort Worth area of Texas in April. A handsome plant, it was easy to learn to recognize it.

red yucca, Hesperaloe parviflora