A Cactus By Any Other Name,
is still a cactus (or, is it?)
by L. M. Moe
A cactus by any other name is still a cactus. Really? Some people call Euphorbia a cactus. Also, why isn’t Dactylopsis a Phylobolus? Is Pediocactus really a Turbinicarpus? Is the Bakersfield cactus Opuntia treleasei? What about fishhook cactus, is it a Mammillaria or a Sclerocactus? Is a pincushion cactus a Mammillaria, Escobaria, Sclerocactus, Pediocactus, Corypantha, or Echinocactus? (0r, for that matter, a Diapensia, Knautia, Leucospermum, Scabiosa or Navarretia all have pincushion plant as a common name.) What’s in a name anyway?
Botanical Latin and plant names in 20 minutes (for Matt, 40 minutes for the rest of us).
Scientific (Latin) plant names can seem very confusing (and hard to pronounce), but actually it is the common name that is most likely to mislead. A riveting talk will provide you with an explanation how and why scientific plant names are important, why they keep on changing and what they mean.