| The Latin plant names used in medieval and renaissance herbals do not correspond to the modern scientific names. The modern nomenclature was not developed until the 18th century. |
| The modern scientific name is made up of a genus name and a species name. The genus is a category that contains one or many species. The individual species may also have a variety and/or cultivar name. |
| genus | a group of related (having similar physical characteristics)
plant species
the genus name is always capitalized |
| species | members of the genus that are distinct from each other
are labeled as individual species
the species name is always in lower case letters |
| variety | a naturally-occuring variation within a species
the variety name is sometimes preceded by "v." or "var." |
| cultivar | a variation (within a species) that is man-made and does
not exist outside of cultivation
cultivar names are shown in single quotes |
| hybrid | a man-made hybrid (or cross) between two species
sometimes indicated by an "x" |
| common name | folk name
common names vary from place to place and are reused over time for different plants |
| To illustrate how the system works, here are the scientific and common names for a few plants (don't look for these at your local nursery): |
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| Aconitum | napellus | v. alba | 'Lucretia Borgia' | White Monkshood 'Lucretia Borgia' |
| Helleborus | foetidus | flore pleno | Double Stinking Hellebore | |
| Papaver | somniferum | '1040 EZzzz' | Opium Poppy '1040 EZzzz' |