Most of us have heard about the Garden of Eden and how Adam
was given the task of naming the plants and animals. While the Bible doesn’t
specifically name all plants, rest assured that many plant names go back to
pre-history. At the very beginning plants, trees as well as flowers besides
being used for food, were used in rituals, charms, and talismans, derived from
myths, legends within the cultures that surrounded them. Many healing plants
are named for the diseases and ailments they sought to heal, such as all-heal,
liverwort, etc., perhaps also based on the shape of the leaves or petals. The
very names give one the clue to their healing properties.
From the 16th century and on, herbals attempted
to categorize flowering plants based on these identifiers and attributes. When
trade routes opened up, especially into the New World,
explorers would introduce these new species and name them after their
“discoverers.” Within a few hundred years, there were thousands of new species
introduced, especially in the British Isles and America.
Theories and experimentation began to show that indeed many plants and flowers
were beneficial to man as medicines.
Towards the end of the 19th century, many
botanical gardens “sprouted” up around the world (pun intended). Effort was
made to continue to categorize plants and their uses. Additionally new plants
continued to be named for people instead of their attributes of healing
properties. Unfortunately emphasis on their healing properties fell to the
wayside. At this point, plants and animals both began being named by genus and
species.
During its heyday, plant discovery and exploration was done
by botanists at great risk to themselves, many even dying for their efforts, the
flower being the only way we remember them, their story being long forgotten.
Fortunately plant exploration became safer, although now is considered a
science done in labs and not the fore of brave explorers, tramping through
jungles in search of that mysterious and prized flower unknown to the world
until they found it.
One of our most prized flowers is of course, the Rose. We
think of it especially on Valentine’s Day or to give to someone we love for
those special moments of our lives. The botanical name for rose is Rosa of the family Rosaceae. To put it simply, the flower
was named for its most common color “red” in Latin. Because they represent
love, the heart and life, roses are the flower most frequently thought of
around Valentine’s Day. It has been a symbol of love since the earliest times.
The Greeks associated it with Aphrodite and her love Adonis; while the Romans
used it in their elaborate feasts as well as their beloved orgies. The
Christians developed their symbol of spiritual love from the earlier Pagan
symbol for love, the rose. Over the centuries, thousands of hybrid have been
developed of the beautiful red rose, and in recent years attempts at creating a
blue rose have been quite successful.
Having a heady fragrance that can often be carried on
breezes far and wide in the evening hours, is the Petunia. Its botanical name
is Petunia. Family name is Solanaceae. The Petunia hails from South
America, being “discovered” by French botanists commissioned by
Napoleon in 1823. All hybrid Petunias now currently in existence have descended
from plants taken to Glasgow, Scotland
in 1831 to place in their botanical by James Tweedie. He was the head gardener
at the Royal Botanical
Garden in Edinburough. The name Petunia comes
from the root word “petun”, which is the Brazilian word for “tobacco” and
Petunias can actually be cross-bred with tobacco plants.
Another fascinating flower is the Dahlia. Its history and
manner of distribution throughout the world is a bit obscure, perhaps leading
to the aura of mystery surrounding it. Dahlias grew in Mexico
and were cultivated by the Aztecs. The Aztec name for them was cocoxochitl”, translation is unknown,
although it is known that they were used as a food substance, although
Europeans decided it was quite distasteful as a food source. Although it
originates from Mexico,
it was named for a botanist: Dr. Anders Dahl. In Europe
they are called “georginas” for the botanist Johann Georgi. Dahlias were not a
popular flower until the late 1800s when a prized “blue Dahla” sold for over
1000 pounds. The “Black Dahla” was the nickname for Elizabeth Short, a youngstarlet who came to an unfortunate end in the early days of Hollywood, and to
most people this is the most connection to the word Dahlia, although to be fair
to the flower, its comes in many beautiful and colorful hues and varieties.
While this article only touches upon the intriguing and fascinating history of
flowers and flowering plants, and the scope of this subject is much too broad
for this post, there are many interesting and informative sites on the web to
explore. The Kew Royal Botanical Gardens gives an estimate that there are
currently over 352,000 species of flowering plants! Phew! How wonderful to have
such beauty and wonder in the world as flowers. I am in awe of them. As my blog
progresses, I will also add more posts about herbals and flowers and their
mystical and healing properties. Stay tuned. Happy Valentine’s Day.
Additional Source: Wells, Diana. (1997). "100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names" Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill, NC.
