Why do they talk like that?

I used to work at a garden center, where the owner almost disdainfully talked about horticulturists as ‘Latin speakers’.  I believe he thought people were snobbish, or were trying to appear highly educated when they used the botanical names for plants.  If that is not the reason, why do people use a dead language, like Latin, when discussing plants?

Oakleaf Hydrangea aka
Hydrangea quercifolia
The specific epithet “quercifolia” describes the foliage of this plant: “querci-” meaning oak and “folia” meaning foliage.

The reason that you will hear most often, is that botanic names are specific.  While there may be many common names for one plant, there is only one botanic name.  For example, common names for our native Carpinus caroliniana include American hornbeam, blue beech, ironwood and musclewood, while a plant in the genus Amelanchier may be called serviceberry, shadbush, shadblow, or Juneberry. http://www.mortonarb.org/tree-collections/735-how-plants-are-named.html

Surprisingly, while I use botanic names to be specific about plants, I have found an additional benefit to “speaking Latin”. While the common names can be charming (think pussy toes, hearts-a-burstin’, and wood vamp), the botanic names make sense.  When learning to identify hundreds of plants during my training at Longwood Gardens, from conifers, to small flowering trees, to perennials, the botanic names helped me remember these plants.  Once you understand some Latin terms, you will find that they may appear across families and tell you about plant characteristics.

Another thing I learned at Longwood Gardens is that while Latin is pronounced phonetically, it is not truly a spoken language.  I have heard plant experts pronounce the same botanic name in different ways. So don’t be intimidated by the pronunciation.  Just sound it out.

One final note about botanic names; like people, every species has one name with two parts, (with a few exceptions like Cher, Madonna, and Prince).  The difference is that in English, people have their given name first and their family name second.  Plants have their group name (genus) first, and their descriptive name (specific epithet) second. I think of this as “last name first, and first name last.”

I have put together a chart below to demonstrate a few Latin terms, what they mean, and some examples using each term.  Maybe after becoming familiar with a few terms, you will find yourself speaking Latin, like me.