L earning  O bjective  5

I. THE ORIGINATOR OF SCIENTIFIC NAMING was a Swedish botanist, Carolus Linnaeus, who lived in the 1700's.

A. He started a system of Latin descriptive names that became established worldwide usage for plants and animals.

B. Scientific names are reserved for species which are the basic unit of classification.

1. A biological species is a group of individuals capable of interbreeding freely with one another but not with members of another species.

2. The botanical field dealing with description and naming of plants is called taxonomy or systematics.

A. Classification is a grouping, like organisms under a certain name. It is much like a library where books of similar type -- mysteries, biographies, and histories -- are grouped together.

B. A major difference from the library example is that organisms, unlike books, change, and increased knowledge about them may indicate different relationships.

C. One example is the change from the two kingdom system of plant and animal to the re-classification of organisms into the five kingdom system just studied.

A. Advantages and disadvantages of common and scientific names.

1. Common names:

a. advantage: more familiar, easy to remember and say.

b. disadvantages:

1) more than one name used in one place.

Example: In Hawaii, the plant Pandanus tectorius may be called Pandanus or screwpine by some or hala, the Hawaiian name, by others.

 

2) two or more names in different languages.  
 

Many native Hawaiian plants have an Hawaiian and an English name.   Example: for Bidens species, "Spanish Needle" in English and ko'oko'olau in Hawaiian.

 

3) the same name used for different species of plants.

Examples: 'ape is the Hawaiian name for the species Alocasia macrorrhiza but recently it has been used for the species Xanthosoma.

Yam and sweet potato are common names for different plants.  For example, in Hawaiian, uhi means a type of yam (Dioscorea alata) and 'uala (Ipomea batatas) refers to the sweet potato.

However, in the grocery store, yam and sweet potato refer to the root of the same plant species, the sweet potato (Ipomea batatas).  The dark red-orange fleshed sweet potato is called yam, the lighter yellow one, the sweet potato.

Click here to see and learn more about uhi and 'uala,which Hawaiians called canoe plants.

Another example is the use of the hinahina or variation of it in Hawaiian plant names (hina means silver or grey).  It has been used for three different, unrelated species.

One is the famous silversword:  'ahinahina (Argyroxiphium sandwicense), also for hinahina, a type of shrubby geranium species (Geranium cuneatum) and hinhina for a beach plant, Heliotropium anomalum var. argentum.

2. Scientific names:

a. advantages:

1) only one name per species
2) recognized and documented worldwide
3) same in any language

b. disadvantages

1.) More difficult to remember and pronounce the latin format.
2). name unfamiliar, not as commonly known.

 

B. Three basic rules pertaining to the scientific name.

1. The scientific name always has two parts:
the Genus (capitalized) and species (lower case).

2. The order is genus first, species second, like Smith, Mary

3. Both names are ALWAYS set apart in the text - by underlining, italicizing, or boldfacing.

 

Example: Metrosideros polymorpha   Scientific name for 'Ohi'a lehua.

 

This scientific name is used worldwide whether the scientist is from Russia, China or Africa. Because it is an endemic plant, common names in other languages would be unlikely.

C. Example of one plant with many different common names.

A plant found indigenous throughout the Pacific has the scientfic name of Scaevola sericea. It is called:

In Hawaiian: naupaka kahakai In English: scaevola In the Societies: nga'u In Cooks: ngahupa In Tonga: to'ito'i In Samoa: veveda In Guam: nanasu  

The advantage of the scientific name is clear.

D. The establishment of a scientific name by type specimen.

1. When a botanist discovers what appears to be a previously unknown plant, he or she may name it and publish a detailed description of it.

2. Samples from the original plant, on which the description is based, is designated as a TYPE SPECIMEN. It is kept in a herbarium as a permanent record for the original naming.
 

A. A genus is made up of one or more species.

For example, 'ohi'a lehua, or Metrosideros polymorpha   is a large tree.

 

On the other hand, lehua papa, or Metrosideros rugosa, found    only on the ridges of the Ko'olau mountains of O'ahu, is a small    shrub with cup-shaped leaves. With several other species, they    form the genus Metrosideros on the Hawaiian islands.

B. One or more genera (plural of genus) make up a family.

1. Example: The genus Scaevola is part of the GOODENIACEAE which has 30 genera worldwide but only one in Hawaii. Family names end in -aceae.

2. Some better-known families are ROSACEAE, the rose family (apples, strawberries, plum, pears), LILACEAE, Lily family, and FABACEAE, the bean family, (shower trees, peas, beans and the monkey pod tree).

3. Above the family classification are the following groups in ascending order: Order, Class, Division and Kingdom.

C. Subspecies and Varieties are units of a species.

1 Subspecies (subsp) are a regional race of a species.

Pohuehue, or beach morning glory, found on Hawaiian shorelines, is called Ipomoea pes-caprae subsp. brasiliensis. This subspecies distinguishes it from other Ipomoea pes-caprae plants found throughout the Pacific region which have some differences from the Hawaiian type.  They would still be able to interbreed if brought together.

 

(See p. 5 in Hawaiian Coastal Plants for further description.)

2. Variety (var.) is similar to subspecies.

D. Cultivar is a cultivated type of plant, not found in the wild but created and maintained horticulturally.  It will not be able to reproduce true from seeds, but only from pieces of the original plant.

Example: At a nursery we will see a person's name or a descriptive name, like "Royal Purple", on tags on orchids. These are cultivar names.  Another example is "Kane'ohe Sunset" a cultivar of a Plumeria hybrid tree.