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Saturday, July 07, 2001

By Jeff Polonoli , Phipps Conservatory and , Botanical Gardens

Imagine seeing a sign at a local garden center that reads, "New hardy Lycopersicon esculentum -- limited supplies!"

Being a dedicated vegetable gardener, you pass on the offer, thinking there's no room for another exotic plant in your garden. Besides, your focus is on plucking a juicy red plump tomato by the Fourth of July.

	Growing with Phipps Previous articles in a series Gardening is naturally fun for children All-America Selections For 2001 The Discovery Garden at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens celebrates its fifth anniversary from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 7 with games, face-painting, plant and seed potting, live entertainment, storytelling, leaf and flower hunts and other activities. Throughout the summer, Discovery Garden visitors will enjoy interactive activities, guaranteed to engage children of all ages. Call Phipps' education department at 412-622-6915, Ext. 6901. This is one in a series of periodic columns by staffers of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. Jeff Polonoli is Phipps' plant recorder.

However, having known just a few scientific names of your favorite vegetables, you could have just had the best chance at picking the fruit of your passion by the middle of June. Yes, L. esculentum is the scientific name for the larger edible tomatoes we grow in the garden.

This scenario is just one example of why the scientific names of plants are important -- not only to scientists, but also to gardeners and plant enthusiasts. If the sign had read "hardy tomato," we would have had to stand in line for hours. Unfortunately, not everyone worldwide uses the common name tomato, but L. esculentum is the universally accepted official name.

Nomenclature is the term used for the usage and assigning of names. We use names as a way of aiding communication and avoiding lengthy descriptions. To say, "I just planted a Cercis canadensis" is easier than saying, "I just planted a small deciduous tree with simple heart-shaped leaves, irregular pink flowers and long flattened pod fruits."

There are two nomenclature systems used for plants -- common names and scientific names. Most people use both systems, but scientific plant names are the only official names accepted worldwide. The decision-makers for scientific names are made up of an international group of botanists who meet periodically to update the rules and standards that govern the usage of all botanical names.

After each meeting, a publication called the "International Code of Botanical Nomenclature" is updated, listing the current rules and guidelines accepted. This particular code is used only for the names of plants growing naturally in the wild and not plants cultivated by humans.

A more recent and separate code called the "International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants" governs the acceptance and usage of cultivated plant names.

Common names have been around much longer than scientific names and are more popular with the everyday gardener or plant enthusiast. This is probably due to the fact that most common names are created in the local language or dialect, so memorization of the plant name becomes easier in a familiar language. Scientific names, on the other hand, are Latin-based and are not always the easiest to pronounce and retain. A disadvantage of common name usage is that one particular plant species may have many different common names, especially in different parts of the country or the world. For example, the Cranberry bush or Viburnum trilobum is also known as Cranberry Tree, Highbush Cranberry, Tree Cranberry, Crampbark, Grouseberry, Squawbush, Summerberry and Pimbina. Also, many different plants may share the same common name. The common name "lily" is used for hundreds of different plants.

Cultivar and hybrid are words every gardener comes across and uses often. The rank of cultivar is not recognized by the "International Code of Botanical Nomenclature," but it is recognized by the "International Code of Cultivated Plant Nomenclature." Cultivar is closest to the botanical rank of variety, but the difference is that a cultivar was created or influenced by humans and would probably not occur naturally in the wild. Cultivar names never can be written in Latin and must be placed within single quotation marks or have the symbol 'cv.' before the cultivar name. Examples of cultivars are Phlox 'Purple Haze' or Lycopersicon lycopersicum 'Heartland.'

Hybrid plants are simply the resulting offspring between the cross of two different genera or different plant species. Hybrids can occur in nature but are often the result of manmade plant crosses. The correct form for writing the scientific name for a hybrid is using an "x" between each of the parent plant names. If the two parents of the hybrid are of the same genus, there are two correct ways of writing the name. The hybrid tea rose is Rosa chinensis x R. gigantea. The second correct writing, if this hybrid was treated as a new species name itself, is written as Rosa x odorata.

We can see that both common and scientific names have their place when communicating plant information. Obviously, common names are easier to use when we are bragging about the size of our zucchinis to our neighbor. Some plant names certainly can confuse people, whether it's from the lack of knowledge of scientific names or the confusion caused by common names.

However, one thing is certain -- if we all started using scientific plant names more consistently, everyone might have a chance at picking a tomato earlier this year.