1. PLANT NAMES 



Binomials and Common Names 



By a long-standing general agreement among botanists, every 

 plant has two names. One of these is the genus name (or, as an 

 adjective, the generic name) and the other is the species, or 

 specific, name. It is easy to remember which is which because 

 of the similarity of the word generic to "general" and because 

 the word specific means just what it says. A large number of 

 plants also have common or vernacular names. Such names are 

 familiar to a larger number of people than are generic and spe- 

 cific names. However, there are some serious defects in calling 

 plants only by their common names. One difficulty is that a 

 common name applied to a plant in one area may apply to 

 another plant in another area. For example, White Pine in the 

 western United States refers to Pinus monticola; in the eastern 

 United States it refers to Pinus strobus. In the Pacific Northwest, 

 the name Skunk Cabbage refers to Lysichiton americanum, but 

 in California this name is often applied to species of the unre- 

 lated genus Veratrum. In short, one reason to be wary of 

 common names is because one common name may apply to two 

 or more very different plants and obviously there can be some 

 serious problems in communication when only common names 

 are used. 



A second objection to the use of common names for plants 

 is that one plant may have many common names (although 

 it has only one generic and specific name). In California, the 

 names CaUfornia Bay, California Laurel, or even Pepperwood 

 are unambiguous and there is little difficulty in using any one of 

 them for Umbellularia califomica. Once you cross over the 

 border into southwestern Oregon, however, this evergreen tree 

 changes its name to the Oregon Myrtle. I doubt whether most 

 southern Oregonians would have the foggiest notion of what 

 tree you meant by bay or laurel, but if you mentioned myrtle 

 they would immediately know. I might also mention in passing 



