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| Botanical Names (continued)Cultivars This system is botanically very important, but more importantly to everyday gardeners is the cultivar. Cultivars are species of interbred plants either naturally or by man to form new varieties. The names distinguish each plant from others in the same species. The name is added to the genus and species at the end and may not have any significance to the plant. For example it might be a rose named ‘Happy Anniversary’ for commercial reasons by the grower.
Occasionally there are variations in plant names. For example, if a plant has been created through crossing two different species, an ‘x’ will appear between the genus name and species name.
Occasionally, the cross comes before the genus name which means it comes from two species from differing genera.
Just to confuse the issue even more, there are separate names for natural variations, different forms or subspecies of a plant which are indicated as follows:
Whatever the name however, when being named, each plant must have strict naming guidelines adhered to it from the International Code for the Nomenclature of Cultivated Plants. How are botanical names written? Both genus and species are written in italics wherever possible. The genus is always written with a capital to start the name whereas the species is always lower case. The cultivar however is not written in italics, for example:
Other examples of plant names:
So why are Latin names important to gardeners? Well, quite simply they are not. Talking in common language about varieties of Narcissus when daffodil will suffice is far more practical. When the audience of the writing is aimed at is other people in the same industry for example horticulture journals or nurseries talking to retailers this then becomes very important as similar species could have entirely different characteristics. Interestingly though, a great deal can be gained from the botanical names of plants which can hint at what the plant will look like, where it can grow or who found or created it. Click here for some examples of latin meanings. Here are the meanings of the examples listed above. Ilex aquifolium Ilex comes from the Latin name for the holm oak (Quercus ilex) and aquifolium comes from the classical name for holly. Nepeta x faassenii
Nepeta is an ancient Etruscan city and faassenii is named after the Dutch nurseryman, JH Faassen. x Cupressocyparis leylandii
Cupressocyparis refers to the Cypress tree this species was born from and Leylandii is named after plant collector Christopher John Leyland, owner of Leighton Hall in the village of Leighton, near Welshpool. He discovered the crossed plant by accident when he planted two trees which would not have naturally reproduced with each other in the wild as they lived many miles apart. Monterey Cypress, which naturally occurs in a small area of the Californian coast, and the Nootka Cypress, a very hardy tree, which grows on the slopes just below the snowline from Alaska to Oregon.
Nymphaea ‘James Brydon’
Nymphaea is a water goddess in Greek mythology. Cupressus arizonica var. glabra ‘Blue Ice’
Arizonica means the plant originally comes from Arizona and Glabra means smooth and bare. Malva moschata f. alba
Malva is a ancient Latin name, thought to derive from the Greek malache, meaning soft, referring to the emollient properties of the plants. Moschata means ‘With a musky scent’ and ‘Alba’ means white.
Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris Hydrangea comes from the Greek word meaning water vessel. anomala means irregular, deviating from-the rule and Petiolaris means stalked. Latin name meanings... | 
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