A Rose by any name: Or Where do flower names come from?

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 16^th 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 19^th 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.