We
who study the living plants and animals of the
world must learn to identify things by names
that can be understood by all people. Whether
they live in France, China or Madagascar, the
names we use must be cosmopolitan. For this
reason we use Latin or Latinized Classic Greek,
German and even Japanese. Whatever the words may
be they are always Latinized. We cannot
communicate outside of our small groups, unless
we use, or add scientific names.
We
all use many scientific names: Geranium, Aster,
Viburnum, Canine, Barbara, Vulgar, Calendula
(Colendula), Delphinium, Viola, Giraffe,
Hippopotamus, Rhinoceros, Gorilla, Llama,
Chimpanzee, Gibbon, Hyena and hundreds of
others. So don't be afraid of them.
Throughout
the world common names are what most people use
when talking to friends and other people from
their particular area. Those names are hard to
understand by someone from the next town,
county, state, or country because every area has
its colloquialisms. We also use the wrong names,
or inappropriate names for many things.
We
misname many birds, plants and mammals: We have
no rabbits in this area, they are hares which
are very different. We use the name "Elk" for a
"Wapiti", but the only real elk in America we
call "Moose". Mountain goats are not goats but
relatives of Asian antelope and chamois. We
can't catch "Ling Cod" in Alaskan waters nor can
we catch "Black Bass" either. Caribou are wild
reindeer, they are the same species, and they
are not the only deer with antlers carried by
both sexes, check "Pudu", which is a tiny deer,
and both sexes have very sharp antlers. The
"Three Toed Sloth" has 9 neck vertebrae, the
"Two Toed Sloth" has 6, and the "Manatee" has 6;
people are actually taught in many biology
classes that all mammals have 7. The word
"Baleen" is Classic Greek and simply means
"Whale". When we say, "Baleen Whale", we are
saying "Whale Whale". All Marsupials do not have
pouches; what sets them apart from other mammals
is they have no placenta. The pronghorn of the
Western States is not an "Antelope", and is the
only horned mammal that sheds its horns each
year. It actually sheds the sheaths, leaving the
small "Horn Core" to grow a new Horn.
There
are no robins in the Western Hemisphere, what we
call robins are red breasted "Thrushes". True
robins are small active thrush-like birds that
are found throughout the Old World. the "Robin
Red-Breast" of Europe is a very small orange and
white breasted bird. When the early emigrants
came to America they gave names to everything
that resembled what they knew from "back home".
Not being very knowledgeable about such things,
they thought they were naming everything
correctly. They were so very wrong that we have
had problems ever since. The "Icterids "of North
and South America include our blackbirds, and
oriole. They are not related to the "Blackbirds
"(Thrushes) or "Orioles" (True Orioles) of the
rest of the world. The meadow lark is not a
"Lark" but is related to the "Starlings".
We
pick watermelon berries from watermelon vines.
Watermelons are the only true watermelon
berries. One cannot pick them off of wild
cucumber because there is no such Alaskan plant.
The Lily, "Twisted Stalk" (Streptopus
amplexifolius), is the proper common name we
should use, and never refer to it as "False
Solomon's Seal"; that is in another genus. The
False Solomon's Seal (Smilacina stellatus) has
all of its flowers capitate (at the top of the
plant), and the leaves clasp the stem, hiding
it. There are no "Cedar "trees in the Americas,
we call the wood from "Cypress", Arbor-vitae and
"Juniper, Cedar". None of those trees are even
in the same family as Cedar. The scientific name
"Anemone" means "Wind Flower", therefore a
single species in the genus cannot be the only
one with that common name, all Anemones are
"Wind Flowers". Many plants are called "Grass"
that are not related to the grasses. "Cotton
Grass" is a "Sedge" and not related to grass. We
have no "Moss" hanging from trees, those are
"Lichens", and in tropical areas there are
"Bromeliads" and "Orchids" that hang from trees.
Mosses do not have roots or hold-fasts, so if it
hangs from a tree it is something else. All
"Toadstools" are mushrooms. Mushrooms are fruits
of perennial plants (mycelium) that grows in a
food source. Picking fruit from plants does not
destroy them. A mushroom usually drops about
five billion spores per minute. There are so
many spores that if habitat (water and cool,
dead material) is available there will always be
mushrooms. You can't get rid of fungus very
easily. Names like "Chicken Mushroom" and "Beef
Steak Mushroom" are dangerous because there are
many different species with those kinds of
common names. Many are very poisonous.
There
is no "Wild Celery" in Alaska. That name is
given to Angelica which can be extremely
dangerous, and it implies that the plant is
edible. Angelica genuflexa, is not easily
separated from Douglas's Poison Water Hemlock
(Cicuta douglasii) by the novice plant hunter.
All members of the genus Cicuta contain large
amounts of cicutoxin and are deadly poisonous.
There are no Alaskan wild "Potatoes" and no
Alaskan wild "Sweet Peas". The roots of one of
the Vetches is mildly poisonous, but who goes
around eating vetch roots. "Beach Peas" are very
edible and are in fact the wild form of the
domestic pea.
Roses
have no thorns, they have prickles which are
very different structures. No "Cranberries "grow
on bushes, they grow on thin vines creeping in
bogs, therefore the only cranberries are, of
course, "bog cranberries" and that is like
saying, "Water Fish". "High Bush Cranberry" is a
Viburnum which is one of the honeysuckle
species, and "Low Bush Cranberry" is in the same
Genus as "Blueberry", not a cranberry either.
Hemlock is not poisonous. Hemlock is a tree with
edible inner bark. The Poison Water Hemlock is
deadly and is related to Celery, Carrot and
Dill.
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