|
Ever wonder how plants get those strange and unpronounceable names?
Like Mesembryanthemum criniflorum and Metasequoia glyptostroboides - why can't we just call them by their respective common names, Livingstone daisy and dawn redwood, and be done with it?
The answers are deeply rooted (pardon the pun) in history. The ancients who studied plants eons before our Western world was explored had made vast pronouncements. The Greek botanist Theophrastus (371 - 286 BC) wrote so persuasively about plant life, that his books remained the standard volumes of botany for centuries. Regrettably, many of his hypotheses were incorrect, in part because he had not figured out relationships among plants. His simplistic taxonomic system consisted of separating taxa into four categories: trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials and herbs. By today's standards, early plant nomenclature and taxonomy is laughable. For example, one school of thought back in Theophrastus' day held that the morphology, or shape, of a plant determined its usefulness. So a plant with a convoluted appearance (like cockscomb) would heal illnesses of the brain. A kidney-shaped root (such as a potato) might be useful in the treatment of renal maladies. And consuming a tree with a straight tap root should correct rickets. You can see how some common names were derived, such as “heal-all” and “soldier's woundweed,” among countless others.
|