Flower names

How do flowers get their names?

The naming of flowers is an interesting phenomenon. Like plants, flowers also enjoy two names – Common Name and Latin Name. The Common Names of many flowers can be traced back to hundreds and thousands of years. The Latin Names are universal and are formed by a genus name, followed by a specie name, followed by cultivar or variety name.
Most of the Common Names of flowers originated from the folklore and traditional beliefs. Some flowers that were used for their medicinal properties were named accordingly, like Agueweed (used to treat ague fever), and Colicroot (used to treat abdominal cramps or colic). Some flowers were named according to their characteristics, like flowers of Lady’s Slipper Orchids resemble women’s shoes, and Rat’s Tail Plantain has a flower spike similar in size and shape to a rat’s tail.
Some flower names are descriptive, i.e., their name describes the kind of flower you expect. For instance, Nigra (for color ‘black’), Alba (‘white’), Xantho (‘yellow’), Stella (for shape of ‘star’), Lept (‘thin’) etc.
Some flowers, like birthworts, soapworts, milkworts, ragworts and liverworts, end with -worts. It comes from an old English word ‘wyrt’ meaning root or plant. The first part of the name depicts certain characteristic feature. For instance, birthworts were used as a medicine that helped women during childbirth. Similarly, the suffix -bane in the poisonous flowers like cowbane, henbane etc. comes from the old English word ‘bana’ meaning murderer. The first part of the name is supposedly the one most affected by the poison.
The modern times have also seen flowers being named after people, like Dahlias from Swedish Botanist Anders Dahl who introduced flowers in Europe and Mexico.
The famous Swedish botanist, Carolus Linnaeus, devised the modern scientific system of naming the plant names. The scientific naming of flowers is also closely related to this system. The names are composed of a genus name, followed by a specie name, followed by cultivar or variety name. For example, marsh marigold or kingcup has the scientific name Caltha palustris. ‘Caltha’, the genus name, means gold-colored flower in Latin. ‘Palustris’, palustris, is a Latin word meaning marsh loving. No other plant species in the world can be named Caltha palustris. By using scientific names, botanists can easily identify every species of plant.