18 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
PLANT NAMES AND THEIR MEANINGS 
By Willard N. Clute in the American Botanist 
The names of plants have ever formed an important 
part of Botany. The collecting of plants and the running 
down of their names by the use of a “Ivey” was long con¬ 
sidered the end and aim of plant studies and even now 
this amusement has not entirely ceased to interest the bot- 
anizer. The question as to the exact name each plant 
should bear, originated shortly after the Christian Era 
and still forms the subject for numerous acrimonious de¬ 
bates among the devotees of “the Amiable Science.” 
Meanwhile the meanings that lie in plant names have 
received scant attention. To be sure, nearly all botanical 
Manuals attempt to give the derivations of the generic 
names but apparently with only indifferent success, if 
we may judge from the diversity of derivations suggested. 
Since the generic names are usually taken from the Latin 
and Greek, a correct derivation ought ordinarily to be 
easy, but frequently it is far from being so. In the case 
of the common or vernacular names, the difficulties in¬ 
crease. There is no recognized authority upon which we 
may depend. Common names have been derived from all 
countries and from all languages. They have been given 
by philosopher and peasant, physician and farmer, civilian 
and savage, soldier and statesman. Learning has given 
us names derived from classic sources; ignorance has 
mispronounced and misapplied these names and coined 
others. As a result, the vernacular names present many 
puzzling problems which stand as a challenge to our abil¬ 
ity, but the possibility of their solution adds zest to the 
study. Moreover, a wealth of tradition, poetry, folklore, 
fancy, custom, religion and other phases of life lie em¬ 
bedded in these names like jewels in the mine, and any 
extensive investigation is sure to be rewarded. Some of 
these names are older than the science of Botany itself; 
others are even now in the making. 
It is manifestly impossible for any single individual to 
satisfactorily cover the whole field of plant names, but if 
any progress is to ensue, a beginning must be made, and it 
is purposed to set down here some observations on the 
subject which we trust will call out from others the addi¬ 
tions, corrections, and further suggestions that the sub¬ 
ject merits. 
A good pace to begin our studies is at that group of 
common, showy, and often poisonous species that long 
stood first in the botanical Manuals and is known as the 
Ranunculaceae. This word is only part of the title of the 
group. It should really be Plantae Ranunculaceae; that is 
Ranunculus- like plants. As usually written, however, 
the names of plant families leave off the first word. In¬ 
quiring into the meaning of Ranunculus, we find that the 
word is derived from an animal rather than from a plant. 
Rana is the Latin word for a little frog and, because many 
plants of this group grow in marshy places where frogs 
abound, the old naturalist Pliny gave the name Ranun¬ 
culus to one of the typical genera. From this name came 
the designation for the family and also for the order Ran- 
ales which includes, besides the Ranunculaceae, the Mag- 
noliaceae, the Anonac.eae, the Berberidaceae, the Laur- 
aceae, and several others. 
In any discussion of plant names it is unnecessary to 
devote much attention to the specific names. These are 
usually descriptive of plant parts and such other char¬ 
acters as size, habitat, color, abundance, and the like. 
Various proper names used are also self-explanatory. 
Some specific names, however, deserve mention, as for in¬ 
stance in Clematis viorna where the specific name comes 
from two Latin words meaning ornament of the wayside. 
Ranunculus sceleratus is of interest from an occasional 
mis-translation which makes it celery-leaved. The real 
meaning of sceleratus is acrid or biting. Zanlhoxylum 
apii folium may be properly translated celery-leaved for 
that is what the name really means. 
Turning to the generic names, we find many of them 
dating back to periods earlier than the Christian Era. 
Some have been given in honor of heathen deities, others 
are the names of ancient plants entirely unrelated to the 
plants which now bear them, the titles having been mis¬ 
placed through the vicissitudes of time or the carelessness 
of early writers, and still others are of such obscure de¬ 
rivation that the translations are at best mere guesses. 
Paeonia, the genus of plants we now call peonies, was 
named for a mythological personage, the physician Paeon, 
who is reported to have used the plant in medicine and to 
have cured the god Pluto with it. Old fashioned folk call 
the plant, piny, perhaps with better authority than we 
have for calling it peony, for properly pronounced the 
generic name is Pi-o-ne-a, easily shortened to piny. The 
larkspur genus Delphinium is named for a fancied resem¬ 
blance of the flowers to the classic figure of the dolphin 
(. Delpin .) 
Anemone is usually supposed to be derived from the 
Greek anemos, meaning the wind, but the latest editions 
of Gray’s Manual says it is a corruption of na-man the 
Semitic name for Adonis “from whose blood the crimson- 
flowered Anemone of the ancients is said to have sprung.” 
Our first derivation seems to be more in favor for it has 
given the vernacular name of windflower to several 
species. Wood’s “Class-book of Botany” says that these 
plants were called anemones because many species love 
windy places. Whatever the derivation, it may be men¬ 
tioned in passing that the accent should be placed on the 
third syllable making the word sound exactly like Annie 
Mony. Thus far this has been overlooked by those stick¬ 
lers for the new way of pronouncing Arbutus and Glad¬ 
iolus. Anemonella, the generic name for the rue anemone, 
is a diminutive of Anemone. 
The authorities also fail to agree as to the derivation of 
Clematis. Wood says it is from the Greek klema a vine or 
tendril, Gray says it is a name given by Dioscorides to a 
climbing plant with long and lithe branches. As to Adonis, 
Wood says “Feigned to have sprung from the blood of 
Adonis when wounded by the boar” but Gray opines that 
“Adonis was a favorite of Venus and after death was 
changed to this flower.” 
The globe flower genus, Trollius, is another bone of 
contention. According to Wood it is derived from Trollen 
meaning golden. Britton’s Manual derives it from Trol, 
round. Webster’s Dictionary says it is from Torolya, the 
Hungarian name for the plant, and Gray explains it as 
from Trollblume, the German common name. Troll, it 
will be remembered, is the German name for a mis¬ 
chievous dwarf or fairy. Perhaps the flower is named 
for the troll! Anybody is at liberty to adopt whichever 
derivation seems to him most correct or to make one of his 
