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| Trientalis europea, formerly Trientalis latifolia. Why? |
Two very important things happened to plant names in the botanical world starting in the 1980s: the flora of North America project and DNA sequencing. I'll talk about the Flora of North America today and DNA sequencing next time.
For the post on California coastal forests ( LINK) I looked up the plants I saw this May in plant books published in the 1970s. I found the plants but when I checked, almost all the names had been changed. Specifically star flower, in the old books as Trientalis latifolia is now Trientalis europaea, what was called Rubus vitifolius, the Pacific dewberry is now Rubus ursinus and Montia perfoliata, miner’s lettuce is now Claytonia perfoliata,
Books and botanists tell people that each plant or animal has only one scientific name so it is surprising and a bit annoying to discover the name you learned is incorrect.
Why?