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wantonamara

Interesting plant names, I want them ALL!!!

We were talking about common plant names and their AKA Latin names. I use both. I love the music of both. One is like Italian opera and the other has all the folksy magic of outsider poetry.

Add yours that you like. I will start it out with a small list. Broom Whitlow Wort, Fringed Puccoon, Strangle weed, Witches shoe laces, beggar's lice, Toadflax, Shame Boy, Devil's claw,Bladderpod.

come on , Add to the list.

Comments (14)

  • gardenweed_z6a
    9 years ago

    Talk about a mouthful:

    Nipponanthemum nipponicum - Montauk daisy
    Polychroma spurge euphorbia - cushion spurge

    Then the really tough one:

    Iris

    Aptly named:

    Chelone lyonii/turtlehead
    {{gwi:226988}}

    {{gwi:226989}}

    {{gwi:196348}}

    And one that (at least in my mind) defies definition, description or explanation:

    Bugloss...huh?

  • gyr_falcon
    9 years ago

    Kangaroo Paws (Anigozanthos)
    Hens and Chicks

    and one of my favorites...
    Fried egg orchid (Dendrobium chrysotoxum)

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    9 years ago

    you have to hear it with a whispered echo in your head:

    liquidamber ...

    there are others i will have to dredge up ....

    ken

  • jadeite
    9 years ago

    Redbirds in a tree - much more musical than scrophularia macrantha

    Cheryl

  • TexasRanger10
    9 years ago

    I had to look liquidamber up. Sweet Gum. Cool name, real smooth.

    I can do the slothful part real quick. Takes me a while to do the latin so I did my google homework. Here's my list so far:

    Jumping Cholla (Opuntia bigelovii)
    Coyote Candles (Opuntia imbricata)
    Devil's Head Cactus (Echinocactus texensis)
    Nipple Cactus (Mammillaria heyderi)
    Arrowhead Plant (Sagittaria longiloba)
    Snake Herb (Dyschoriste linearis)
    Clammyweed (Polanisia dodecandra)
    Bitterweed (Hymenoxys odorata)
    Dotted Button Snakeroot (Liatris punctata)
    Compass Plant (Lactuca serriola) I want one.
    Skeleton Plant (Lygodesmia texana)
    Cowpen Daisy (Verbesina encelioides)
    Cota (Thelesperma filifoium)
    Dodder (Cuscuta squamata)
    Beadpop (Lesquerella gordonii) My earliest bloomer
    Wooly Loco (Astralagus mollissimus) I want one
    Hog Potato (Hoffmanseggia glauca)
    "Wait-a-Minute" (Mimosa borealis)
    Stick-Leaf (Mentzelia nuda)
    Angel Trumpets (Acleisanthes longiflora)
    Futtermill (Oenothera missouriensis)
    Old Man's Beard (Cematis drummondii)
    Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja)
    Desert Candle (Dasylirion wheeleri)
    Fairy Duster (Calliandra eriophylla)
    Rattlebox (Senna covesii)
    Spanish Dagger or S. Bayonet (Yucca torreyi)

    woops, just looked up strangleweed. Thats another name for Dodder which is kind of creepy sounding so I like it. Strangleweed is new one on me. Maybe Dodderin' Strangleweed?

    This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Sat, May 10, 14 at 23:11

  • diggerdee zone 6 CT
    9 years ago

    I love some of the common names of annuals - love in a mist, love in a puff, love lies bleeding, kiss me over the garden gate - so poetic and dramatic, lol! The perennial bleeding heart fits in this category as well.

    Also, Queen Anne's Lace, and a favorite from childhood, butter and eggs - perfectly descriptive, both of them! And there's bachelors buttons, toad lilies, snapdragons, bells of ireland...

    One of my favorite latin names is cimicifuga, although I admit to being afraid to actually say it in public, in case I trip over my own tongue. Luckily, not too many opportunities come up in everyday conversation to say it.... :)

    Fun thread!
    Dee

  • garyfla_gw
    9 years ago

    Hi
    Two latin names Johanneistasjmannia try saying that in latin lol Alocasia infernalis which would translate "out of hell" or "hell like"?? Don't get it lol
    Two common names "Palm orchid" as you would suspect it doesn't belong in either family
    "Drunkards dream" try conjuring up a pic of what that looks like lol gary

  • laceyvail 6A, WV
    9 years ago

    There's a Euonymus known as Hearts a bustin with love. Unfortuneatly, deer love it too.

  • Campanula UK Z8
    9 years ago

    mmm, I also like both, especially when the latin nominates are utterly descriptive (amorphophallus). But anyway, here's a few off the top of my head
    Hottentot Fig - Carpobrotus edulis
    Hogweed (hieraceum spondilifera)
    Codlins and cream - epilobium hirsutum
    Skullcap - scutellaria
    cocksfoot - dactylis glomerata
    restharrow - ononis
    enchanter's nightshade - circaea
    henbane - hyocyamus niger
    Ladies bedstraw - galium verna
    Dame's rocket -hesperis matronalis
    bladder campion - silene

    all these are in my woods

  • shadeyplace
    9 years ago

    skunk cabbage, coltsfoot, bloodroot, Dutchman's breeches, trout lily, pussytoes!, cuckoo flower, jack in the pulpit, Solomon's seal, goatsbeard, catnip, heal-all,and for mother's day>>motherwort. (leonurus cardiac)

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    9 years ago

    i would like to here latin names with a texas ranger twang/drawl ... lol

    ken

  • sunnyborders
    9 years ago

    In the interests of the precise identification of plants:

    A current issue is the growing tendency for the plant trade to use trademark and other selling names instead of botanical cultivar names.

  • ninamarie
    9 years ago

    LINARIA triornithophora - Three birds flying
    St. Mary's Thistle - Silybum marianum.
    I and most children under 10 start sniggering at the latin name of the latter.

  • TNflowerlover Zone 7a
    9 years ago

    How about a combo of Latin and common names? I sent my husband a list of what I bought at the sale at the local agricultural center. Streptocarpus Blue Birds was on the list.....he asked if I bought strep throat for blue birds. Poor plant....that is what I call it now. :)

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