Nomenclature and Keys

Abstract

Throughout history, as man has needed to communicate about specific plants, he has given each such plant a common name. These common names were usually applied only to local plants of medicinal, religious, or economic importance, but the name given was seldom based on any actual botanical characteristics. They were neither applied in a systematic way, nor was there any conscious attempt to use the names to indicate relationship between plants. Therefore, the common name for a particular plant often varied, and still does, from one locality to another; or conversely, a particular common name might apply to several different plants in different areas. “Buttercup,” for example, might refer to a member of the genus Ranunculus or to a member of the unrelated genus Narcissus.