Local Life - St Helens - August 2019

50 Gardening
Name that plant!
by Angie Barker
What’s in a name? Well
with regard to the Latin
names of plants quite a lot
actually. Part of my job as a
garden designer is to think
about the plants which
will complement a design.
This also means choosing
those plants which will suit
the particular location in
the garden in terms of size,
colour, texture, flowering
season and growing
conditions. (There is more
to this garden design
milarky than meets the
eye). I am often asked why
plants have such complicated
names and at first sight they can
be meaningless.
We have history to thank for
the continued use of Latin plant
names in an otherwise ‘dead’
language, but when you delve
deeper, you can actually begin
to understand the properties of
a plant and where it originates
from, just by its Latin name. Below
are some examples of Latin words
used to describe plants - you may
recognise some.
Mollis means soft and/or hairy –
hence Alchemilla mollis
Bonariensis denotes that a
plant originates from Buenos
Aires, Argentina. As in Verbena
bonariensis
Sempervirens means evergreen
– so we have Buxus sempervirens
(Box)
Gracilis is graceful or slender – as
in Deutzia gracilis
Reptans means creeping – Ajuga
reptans
Angustus refers to narrow
leaves and so we have Lavandula
angustifolia
Macrophylla means large leaves
– Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’
for example
Niger means black and so we
have Sambucus nigra
Nanu means dwarf so if you are
looking for a smaller version of
a Berberis you need to look for
Berberis thunbergii ‘Atropurpurea-
Nana’
Only those of a certain
age (yes I include hubby
and myself in this) will
remember doing Latin
at school, but far from
being a dead language,
it certainly lives on in the
plant world. If however
you would rather refer
to Aquilegia vulgaris
as Granny’s Bonnet,
or Digitalis purpurea as
Foxglove or Ophiopogon
planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’ as
Black Lilly Turf, I wouldn’t
blame you. On the other
hand, if you find Latin
derivatives as fascinating as I do,
then “carpe diem”. (If you are not
of a certain age – google it!)
Whatever you’re up to this
summer, whether holidaying
abroad or staying at home and in
the garden, enjoy.