SCIENTIFIC NAMES OF PLANTS

Lobelia inflata L.

Family = Campanulaceae (the family

name usually ends in “aceae).”
Lobelia = genus name
inflata = species epithet
L. = Linnaeus, the author of the species
 PLANTS ARE KNOWN BY SCIENTIFIC
NAMES DERIVED, FOR THE MOST PART, FROM
LATIN AND LESS SO FROM GREEK. OTHER LANGUAGES
ARE LATINIZED WHEN THEY ARE USED
FOR SCIENTIFIC NAMES.

A PLANT SPECIES HAS ONLY ONE ACCEPTED

SCIENTIFIC NAME. IN CONTRAST, A PLANT SPECIES
OFTEN HAS MORE THAN ONE COMMON NAME.
 NEW SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS ARE NO LONGER
REQUIRED TO BE WRITTEN IN LATIN

The International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, Fungi, and Plants now allows new
species to be described in English. Although this change was approved at the
International Botanical Congress in 2012 in Melbourne, Australia, botanists still have
to read the Latin of old botanical descriptions. The book above is the best book for
learning botanical Latin.
 CARL LINNAEUS 1707–1778

• Father of plant taxonomy.

• Invented binomial
nomenclature (= genus +
species).
• His book, Species Plantarum,
was published in 1753. It
serves as the starting point
for the validity of botanical
scientific names.
• Sent his students throughout
the world to collect plants.

Linnaeus on a botanical expedition to Lapland. The plant he is holding is

Linnaea borealis L. (twinflower). Naming a plant after oneself is now against the
botanical code of nomenclature.
The rules used to control the way plants and fungi are
named are updated every five years at the International
Botanical Congress. This year (2017) they will be held in
Shenzhen, China. The Code has nothing to do with how
to delimit a genus or species. It is only about the rules of
nomenclature.
WHAT DO TWO NAMES AFTER A SPECIES NAME MEAN?

The scientific name of the jack-

in-the-pulpit is Arisaema
triphyllum (L.) Schott

Linnaeus described Arum

triphyllum L. in Species
Plantarum in 1753.

Heinrich Wilhelm Schott moved

this species to the genus
Arisaema in 1832. This new
combination gives credit to
Linnaeus for recognizing it as a
new species and Schott for
moving the species to the
correct genus.
The International Code of Algae,
Fungi, and Plants regulates these
kinds of issues.
 CLASSIFICATION OF INDIAN TOBACCO

Kingdom: Plantae (plants)

Subkingdom: Tracheobionta (vascular plants)

Superdivision: Spermatophyta (seed plants)

Division: Magnoliophyta (flowering plants)

Class: Magnoliopsida

Subclass: Asteridae

Order: Campanulales (Bellflower family)

Genus: Lobelia L.

Species: Lobelia spicata Lam. (Indian tobacco)

Species names are in italics; the genus name starts with a capital letter and the
species epithet is in lower case.
 BASED ON
MOLECULAR DATA
Depiction of
hypothesized
evolutionary
relationships of
Lobelia inflata
in the APG system,
the most up to date
system of plant
classification

Indian tobacco
TODAY, CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS IS BASED, TO A
LARGE EXTENT, ON MOLECULAR DATA WITH
THE RESULTS DEPICTED IN EVOLUTIONARY
TREES CALLED CLADOGRAMS.

THIS INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT THE

ANGIOSPERM PHYLOGENY GROUP WEBSITE
UNDER OF THE AUSPICES OF THE MISSOURI
BOTANICAL GARDEN
http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/
 THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF
INFORMATION ABOUT PLANTS
ON THE INTERNET. IF YOU ARE
INTERESTED IN BOTANY
TAKE THE TIME TO EXPLORE THE
FOLLOWING WEBSITES
 THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF
AGRICULTURE (https://plants.usda.gov/java/)
THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS KEW
(http://www.ipni.org/ )
MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN
(http://www.tropicos.org/)
 INFORMATION ABOUT THE HERBARIA OF THE WORLD
(http://sciweb.nybg.org/Science2/IndexHerbariorum.asp.html)

Useful for locating botanical specialists in plant families. Sending a specimen and
images to a specialist is a good way to identify an unknown plant.
THIS WEBSITE HAS THE BEST PLANT IDENTIFICATION
TOOLS FOR THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES
(https://gobotany.newenglandwild.org/)
TO DELVE MORE DEEPLY INTO BOTANY, I
RECOMMEND TWO BOOKS:

BIOLOGY OF PLANTS by P. Raven et al. for

basic botany

and

PLANT SYSTEMATICS: A PHYLOGENETIC

APPROACH by W. S. Judd & C. S. Campbell for
students wishing to learn the details of plant
classification.