Who needs Latin in this modern, high-tech age? Gardeners do!
How else are you going to make sure the rose of Sharon you heard about is a real rose, or “rosa” in Latin, and not the rose of Sharon shrub, which is Hibiscus syriacus? Which rose do you want? Of course, if you want a hibiscus, the rose of Sharon is a great perennial choice.
Knowing your Latin will help you get the rose you want and not a Lenten rose, Helleborus orientalis, or a rock rose, Cistus ladanifer.
Latin names of a plant can tell us a lot about that plant. Bouncing Bet is a cute name, thought to refer to a laundry woman. Depending on where you live, it might be called soapwort, soap weed or wild sweet William. Its proper Latin botanical name is Saponaria. If you know a little Latin you will know that there is something soapy about this plant, and that it can be used as soap. Add the species name to get Saponaria officinalis and the medicinal use of this plant is confirmed. Cleanliness is important to good health!
It was the Swedish botanist Carl Linneaus in the 18th century who created the binomial system of describing and categorizing plants, animals and minerals. It is this system that is used today around the world. Latin was the language used by scholars in those days and it remains the standard of accurately naming plants.
Latin words can tell us where plants originated, and the type of climate that will suit them. Think of Aquilegia canadensis, for example. This native columbine from Canada now grows in the northeastern United States and in other similar climates. Baptisia australis, false indigo, originated in Australia, but it is now a loved perennial in many parts of the U.S. Astilbe japonica originated in Japan. And so it goes with canariensis, africanus, hispanicus, orientalis, sinensis and other such Latin words.
Latin will also describe the shape and habit. “Scandens” will mean this plant is a climber, while “repens” and “procumbens” mean a creeping plant. “Divaricata” means spreading. “Phlox divericata” is a familiar ground cover. “Tomentosa” describes wooly plants with curly matted hairs. The word “mollis” describes a plant with soft hairy parts, such as Alchemilla mollis, which has soft hairy flower stems. All these descriptions make me want to take a closer look at each part of the plants in my garden.
I often find it difficult to describe flower sizes and shapes but here is a list of Latin terms. “Polyanthus” means many flowers, and “grandiflorus” has large flowers. “Foetida” means bad smelling while “graveolens” means heavily and sweetly scented.
Some descriptions of plant shapes are fairly easy to understand because of the Latin root words that are commonly used. Leaves might be cordate (heart-shaped), serrate (toothed) or lunate (meaning shaped like a crescent moon).
We all have favorite colors. Sometimes it is important to know how we are going to arrange the plants in our garden and we want to know the color before we buy. Lutea and flavum are clear yellow, but flavens, flaveola and flavida just mean yellowish. Viridiflora means with green flowers, like Iris viridiflora. Glauca means gray or bluish-green, and purpureum means purple.
Needless to say, I have only touched on the Latin words that are helpful to a gardener who is trying to find the plant he or she has in mind. I went to Bluestone Perennials’ online catalog to check the differences between the many varieties of the popular campanula, also known as bellflower. I found that Campanula garganica, called Dickson’s Gold, is 4 inches tall and makes a matlike ground cover. “Garganica” tells us that this plant grew at Mount Gargano in southern Italy.
Campanula glomerata, or Joan Elliot, has deep blue flower clusters on 18-inch stems and begins blooming in early spring. “Glomerata” is the word that indicates clusters.
Campanula, the Purple Sensation, is 14 to 16 inches tall with 3-inch pendant-shaped purple blossoms. The stunning buds are nearly black. The growth habit is compact and slightly bushy. They bloom in early to late summer.
Campanula trachelium, or Bernice, is a tall 24-inch bellflower, with a flower inside a flower that will bloom from early to late summer. “Trach” is Latin for neck, suggesting one flower is stuck into the neck of another.
Campanula poscharskyana, called Blue Waterfall, is an 8- to 10-inch Serbian variety described as having a cascading habit and that blooms into late summer.
This is not a complete list of Bluestones’ campanula offerings. I just wanted to begin to show the varieties available of the familiar bellflower and why it is necessary to know the proper name when your gardening friend begs to know the name so he or she can have one, too.
Now you know why I quote Gordon Jenkins: “I have been learnin’ my Latin and having a ball!”
Pat Leuchtman has been writing and gardening since 1980. Readers can leave comments at her website: commonweeder.com.