Morning Eye Candy: The Naming of Plants

Posted in Photography on May 12 2012, by Ann Rafalko

With apologies to T.S. Eliot:

The naming of plants is a curious matter;
It isn’t just one of those science-y things.
You may find me as mad as a rosy pink madder
When I tell you a plant must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First is the name of the plant’s closest family
Such as Viburnum or Lilium, Paeonia or Oxalis–
All of them sensible, Latinate names.
There are names that are fancier, if you think they sound geekier,
Some are for flowers, others for trees:
Such as  or Eschscholzia or Hesperantha, Metasequoia or Crassulaceae–
But all of them sensible, Latinate names.
But I tell you a plant needs a name that’s unique,
A name that’s precise, and more descriptive,
Else how can a scientist keep her croci in a row,
Or catalog her samples, or publish her findings?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a few
Such as odoratum, elegans, or subedentata,
Such as lactiflora, stellata, or else cotyledon–
Names that along with the first never belong to more than one plant.
But above and beyond there’s still one name to go,
And that is a name that you may know best;
It is a name that only a human can bestow–
The reason behind it ONLY THE HUMAN CAN KNOW, and will never confess.
When you notice a plant in profound meditation,
The reason I tell you is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought of why did this human give me this
Ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

The Garden Rocks!

The New York Botanical Garden is competing as one of 40 New York City historic places in the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Partners in Preservation program. Vote for us, and we have the chance to win a grant to restore a piece of Nature’s Showplace in New York City, the Rock Garden. VOTE FOR THE GARDEN!