Gardening on Cloud 9 » Botanical Name

Is It Really a Spider Plant? Or a Bichetii Grass?

Sandy — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:45:56 +0000

Have you ever bought a Spider Plant (aka Airplane Plant, botanical name: Chlorophytum comosum) that just never grows “baby spiders”, or runners, no matter how well you take care of it? Instead of questioning your method of watering or fertilizing your Spider Plant, may be first of all, you should examine your plant and check whether or not it really is a Spider Plant! Because instead of a Spider Plant, it could be a Bichetii Grass.

Bichetii Grass (aka False Lily Turf, Siam Lily, botanical name: Chlorophytum bichetii) is in the same genus as Spider Plant, a very common variegated form of Chlorophytum laxum. Like Spider Plant, Bichetii Grass has green, long slender leaves with tapering tips and ivory-white band down the center or the outer margin of the leaf. And just like Spider Plant, Bichetii Grass has flashy roots and bloom tiny, unnoticeable six-petaled white flowers.

While the “baby spider” or offset, if you prefer the horticultural term, is the easiest way to tell apart a Spider Plant from a Bichetii Grass, we can also get some clues from the leaves of the plants. Compare to the leaves of Spider Plant, those of Bichetii Grass are thinner, with inconspicious midvein.

As you can imagine, the similar looks of Bichetii Grass and Spider Plant have caused lots of confusion. And it could be even more confusing when we identify the plants with common names. For examples, sometimes we find Bichetii Grass called as Variegated Spider Plant, or Dwarf Spider Plant. This is just another perfect example of why do we use botanical names, when the common names can be very misleading.

Botanical Name – What is in the name?

Sandy — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 01:50:36 +0000

While we are familiar with the common names of our houseplants, most of us do not know the botanical name of our plants. This is totally fine, for it is absolutely not necessary to memorize those long, daunting botanical names. We can just use the botanical names for reference when looking up information of our plants in guidebooks or websites. Here are the reasons why we use botanical names for plant identification.

Botanical Name of a Plant – The Breakdown

The botanical name of a plant is composed of two major parts, the genus and the species of the plant. For simplicity’s sake, genus is the family and species is a member of the family.

The genus refers to a grouping of plants that are similar in structure. The genus name always comes first and is capitalized. The species name is usually an adjective that gives a clue to the plant’s characteristics. The species name is not capitalized. In a text, they are written in italics

Botanical Name – An Example

For example, Rosa canina, a pretty flowering plant.
Rosa is the genus, canina is the species.

Rosa canina
genus species

Abbreviating the Genus Name

When a writer refers to a genus more than once, its first initial may be used in later references. Thus, the Quercus genus refers to all species of oak trees. White oak is called Quercus alba, and red oak is Quercus rubra, or I could write Q. rubra. When referring to various oaks, I could also call them Quercus spp., meaning “oak species plural”.

Why Do We Use Botanical Names?

Sandy — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 01:22:18 +0000

While common name is so much easier for us to use, there are several good reasons for us to use botanical names for plant identification.

Botanical Name – Unique to Only One Plant

Every plant has at least one unique botanical name (or scientific name or Latin name) to it. This means that every botanical name refers to one and only one plant. Some plants may have more than one botanical name, yet this is not very common. To avoid confusion, it is better to use botanical name for plant identification.

Common Name – Commonly Used by Many Plants

On the other hand, many common names are not unique to a specific plant. Different species of plants (plants that might not even be related) may have the same common name. For examples, many plants are commonly called tumbleweed, or generally called as moss or daisies. In the world of carnivorous plants, both Sarracenia and Darlingtonia are called cobra lilies, and there are about eight different species of Sarracenia called trumpet pitcher plants.

Botanical Name – Solve Language Problem

Gardeners of different countries have different set of common names for the plants. Due to the difference in language and culture, it could be very difficult for a Chinese gardener to share her horticulture experience of some particular species with a gardener in Florence, if all the Chinese gardener knows is the Chinese common name of the plants.

Common Name – Some Plants Don’t Have a Common Name

Some plants that are not so common to begin with, don’t have any common name for plant identification.

Botanical Name – Give Hints of Genus and Species of Plants

While the common name – trumpet pitcher – gives us no hint of how the plant looks like, the botanical name of the plant does. The botanical name of a plant is composed of two major parts, the genus and the species of the plant. So, if we know the botanical name of the plant is Sarracenia flava, we will know that the plant is a carnivorous plant in the genus of Sarracenia (see the photo here).

Check this post that helps you to understand botanical plant names for plant identification.