WHAT'S IN A NAME

I just read an article about plant names. It wasn't about the fancy smansy or cutesy names hybridizers use to identify their new crosses. It was about the old fashioned names "just plain old folks " called their common, everyday plants.

"Kiss me over the garden gate"...how do you think Polygonum orientale earned that moniker! My research shows this plant is from China and was first grown by Thomas Jefferson in this country. Hmmm, is that a clue? Was Thomas Jefferson responsible for the name? The plant is described as having large, heart-shaped leaves and long, drooping spikes of rosy blooms that arch gracefully on stately, tall plants. Can you picture it draping itself over a peeling picket fence?


"Lady's Mantle", Alchemilla molis, was originally called "Our Lady's Mantle" because the scalloped shape of the leaves, were thought to resemble the mantle (cloak) of the Virgin Mary.


"Queen Anne's Lace", Daucus carota, is so called because the flower resembles lace; the red flower in the center represents a blood droplet where Queen Anne pricked herself with a needle when she was making the lace.


"Moon Flower", Ipomoea alba is so called because it blooms in the evening; the flowers open quickly at dusk and remain open til morning sun. The white moon flowers are pollinated by night-flying moths. A close relative of moon flowers are "Morning Glories" which open in the morning so they can be pollinated by bees and other day-active insects.


Then there are all the "wort" plants, such as spiderwort, lungwort, leadwort, St John's wort. The "wort" indicates the plant has medicinal/healing purposes for the condition or complaint mentioned in the first part of the name. If you're wondering about St John's wort, here is the explanation, it was used to ward off evil by hanging the plant over a picture in the house during St John's day.