Relative to size of plant parts, microphylla means “small-leafed,” while macrophylla says it has large leaves. The word ...

Why is Christian Science in our name? Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The Christian Science Church, and we’ve always been transparent about that. The Church publishes the Monitor ...

Since the mid-1700s, researchers have classified life with scientific names. But some of them have problematic histories and connotations. The botanical community is trying to tackle this issue. Since ...

Plant nomenclature, or the naming of plants, has been around since 1753, and started with a Swedish botanist named Carl Von Linne. Latin names were given at the time as an internationally understood ...

Are you waiting for your snowdrops to bloom? Or do you prefer to call them Galanthus nivalis? “Nearly every kind of plant has more than one name,” said Julie Janoski, Plant Clinic manager at The ...

Botanical names might look like a jumble of Latin, but they’re actually more useful (and less scary) than most people think. Unlike common names, which can change from place to place, botanical names ...

Since the mid-1700s, researchers have classified life on Earth with scientific names, a two-word moniker like Homo sapiens. But some of these names are weighed down by problematic histories and ...