10. The last word?
Latin names
Latin botanical names may transcend languages, national borders and ethnic cultures, but they do not transcend time. With so many botanists and horticulturists and geneticists beavering away, sometimes a whole genus gets renamed or divided. One of the biggest upheavals of recent memory is the once-huge genus Chrysanthemum. It is now a much more limited genus, losing several plants to the genera Leucanthemum, Agyeranthemum, Leucanthemopsis and Tanacetum. So, while it’s good to feel comfortable with plant nomenclature, be sure you don’t get too stuck on it.
– Dorothy Dobbie Copyright©
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