Why Latin Plant Names?
If you know the latin plant name it is easy to find other information about that plant for example: other names it is known by, where it grows, whether it is edible or poisonous and what conditions it likes to grow in. Using Latin plant names originated hundreds of years ago from the latin of the Roman plant writers, notably Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23-79), and has continued for many good reasons. Latin is a dead language, so the meanings of words do not change in the same way as those for living languages. In addition botanical Latin is very descriptive, with many different terms for shape, colour or texture. Also noone is offended as they might be if for instance a plant originating in South America was given an English plant name.
