This is a gateway to some outstanding work
in the field of plant names which could only have been carried
out with the help of the World Wide Web.
Would you be able to name
every item in this photo in your own language ?
Click on the image and find out the names of one of these.
Can you guess which just by seeing the name in the URL ?
If you cannot find the answer to your problem
on our pages, contact us and ask questions. An e-mail link used
to be
found on the bottom of every one of our pages but had to be
removed in
order to limit "SPAM". Now you'll have to search for it using
your
imagination sorry but we have to protect ourselves.
Alternatively you
can check our list of resources
our numerous references in print
or online.
We have used many other online references as well. However we
cannot
carry all their information on our own site, we are strictly
focusing
on nomenclature (botanical and vernacular). This is the idea of
a
W.W.W. distributed resource.
There are groups of plants that have
presented challenges to both experts and lay people for decades.
Much confusion is reflected in the names in almost any language
that one cares to study. We originally presented 4 examples in
various stages of development. Today the list of genera
treated is much longer and growing every week. Fortunately not
all
species are in a state of botanical confusion. At this point
(2005) we
have pretty much done what we could on Prunus,
Pisum, Raphanus
etc. to
name a few. Musa (bananas) and Citrus still remain to be done. For
the
foreseable future it looks like we will keep on consolidating
the data
as a whole and that Citrus & Musa will have to wait a few
more
years. We point to a number of good references on the WWW that
will satisfy most people (see our list of genera for a start).
For a basic introduction to the botanical Latin of scientific names Judy
Gibson, botanist from the San Diego Natural
History Museum - California - USA, gave us permission to post her page on our
server a number of
years ago. This is a good intro that has not aged and will set
the
beginners on their way to bigger and better things. We cannot
edit this
page with our modern equipment without risking to disfigure it
so be
warned that most links from there will not work. Just use the
"back"
button of your browser.
For a more advanced treatment of taxonomy one can check Guidelines
on Biological Nomenclature (Adobe Reader required or an html
version is available via Google). Unfortunately this is no longer available. Wikipedia
offers a substitute in various parts.
For yet a more detailed and complex example one can check Dr.
John Wiersema's notes on the USDA GRIN database
that we follow as close as possible for the foundation of our own
database taxonomy. The justification for that choice is that this
online database is the best example in the world that we know of a
distributed database core or foundation.
The names we present on line (70 languages in 20 scripts) have been generated from our old local database and notes (compiled since the mid-eighties), checked against the references listed at the end of each page. Many words collected from web sites or suggested by people browsing our pages have been added. Needless to say, none of those lists is near completion. Not enough editing has been done yet. Eventually every word of each language will need to be checked by a native speaker of that language. We always seek volunteer editors for every of the 70 languages, especially those with "foreign scripts". Burmese, Hebrew, Khmer, Lao, Sinhala and the 12 main languages of India present particularly great difficulties.
The idea is that by matching the known botanical names with common names in as many languages as possible clearer pictures start to emerge. The mistakes that have been perpetuated over the past decades also become obvious. Whether or not , once spotted, mistakes should be corrected is arguable. We believe that eventually correct names should be proposed in lieu of misleading, inaccurate or badly spelt alternatives. We aim to display as much of this process as possible.
This work is outstanding in the fact that original scripts are used. Although technology is very deficient in this area (still in 2005) it is possible to "draw" lists with far more accuracy than when only the romanised words were used. We learnt very early in the research that the process of romanising introduces extra mistakes and that these must be eliminated very early in the compiling process.
Another outstanding characteristic of our
listings is that we take into consideration older, out-of-date
botanical names. These tend to be ignored by modern workers for
the sake of simplification. We believe that, although many of
these older names are undoubtedly out-of-date and out of favour
by modern taxonomists, they teach us a lot about the previous
generations and indirectly remain a dimly lit window on the rich
biological diversity of the past. Given that our aim is to
facilitate communication across cultures, languages, experts -
lay people and generations it is very useful to have as many
cross-referenced botanical names as possible so that despite
their out of date Latin names older books can still be used for
the valuable information they contain. Some of these botanical
names are no longer relevant simply because they applied to
cultivars that have disappeared for ever or have remained out of
sight ... until rediscovered. The Chilean rainbow chard recently
rediscovered in the USA is a case in point. This cultivar has
been available in Australia as long as I can remember but
Australian taxonomists appear to have neither a high
international profile in horticultural taxonomy nor much
interest in exotic cultivated plants. So if it were not for the
remarkable horticultural manuals of the past such as the
Vilmorin catalogues, Le Chevalier Encyclopedia, to name only two
in one language, the history of Beta
vulgaris L. var. flavescens
DC. cv. 'Rainbow Chard' would be hard for anyone to track down.
It is therefore useful to have on hand the botanical names used
then and be aware of their relationship to the current names. Beta
will of course be the subject of one more listing.
On the other hand we also collect every name we come across in
any of our 70 selected
languages. This should help translators to select the most
appropriate
name for any specific translation. The average bi-lingual
botany-related or agricuture-related dictionary is far too often
lacking details. This is due in part to the pressure that
lexicographers are under when doing this work, which is never
remunerated as it should. It is also due to the limitations of
print
publishing and in today's world the cost of publication. It is
not
surprising therefore that most publications of this type are
always
deficient somewhere. No matter how expert the lexicographers and
how
competent the publishers the sad reality of economic rationalism
affects every thing including high standards in just about field
of
endeavour.
We hope that our work will go a fair way towards rectifying this situation, thereby helping many experts and enthusiasts to get a global picture. By cooperating together we may even facilitate the much needed "sorting" of plant names.
Date created: 22 / 07 / 1997
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Last modified: 03 / 06 / 2012
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