Latin Bionomials
A Bit of Botany – Taxonomy
(the classifications of organisms’ in an ordered system that indicates relationships)
The beginning of relationship between humans and plants can be traced back to the prehistoric times. The Indus Valley people used to live in villages, cities and towns, wore clothes, cultivated crops including wheat, barley, millet, dates, vegetables, melon and other fruits and cotton; worshipped trees, glazed their pottery with the juice of plants and painted them with a large number of plant designs. They also knew the commercial value of plants and plant products. There are sufficient indications to show that Agriculture, Medicine, Horticulture, developed to a great extent during the Vedic Period. In the Vedic literature we find a large number of terms used in the description of plants and plant parts, both external features and internal structures; a definite attempt at classification of plants and evidence that use of manure and rotation of crops were practiced for the improvement of fertility of soil and nourishment of plants. Even Rgveda mentions that Vedic Indians had some knowledge about the food manufacture, the action of light on the process and storage of energy in the body of plants. In the post-Vedic Indian literature there is enough evidence to show that botany developed as an independent science on which was based the science of medicine (as embodied in the Charaka and Susruta Samhitas), Agriculture (as embodied in the Krsi-Parasara) and Arbori-Horticulture (as illustrated in the Upavana-vinoda as a branch of Botany). This science was known as the Vriksayurveda, also compiled by Parasara. (Tiwari, 2003)
Carl Linnaeus, also known as Carl von Linné or Carolus Linnaeus, is often called the Father of Taxonomy. His system for naming, ranking, and classifying organisms is still in wide use today (with many changes). His ideas on classification have influenced generations of biologists during and after his own lifetime, even those opposed to the philosophical and theological roots of his work. Each plant belongs to a family and the family name ends in “aceae”. An example is the plant family that Lavender belongs to called “Lamiacae”.
Each plant is given 2 parts to its name:
1. A generic name that is capitalized called the Genus
2. A species name with a lower case first letter (always adjective) often describing a characteristic or feature of that plant species.
The genus and the species is the Latin name or Latin binomial. It is always italicized. If you see a third name it is the author of the plant name.
1. A generic name that is capitalized called the Genus
2. A species name with a lower case first letter (always adjective) often describing a characteristic or feature of that plant species.
The genus and the species is the Latin name or Latin binomial. It is always italicized. If you see a third name it is the author of the plant name.
Why Do you Need to Study Latin Binomials?
Because Latin binomials are not something that we have contact with in every day speech
we must memorize the names in order to recognize them when we see them
in a recipe or on a bottle of essential oil.
Why Do you Need to Study Latin Binomials?
we must memorize the names in order to recognize them when we see them
in a recipe or on a bottle of essential oil.