of irony) three species of slime-mould beetles after US
politicians George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald
Rumsfeld.
imagination to figure out that Varanus giganteus must be
a relatively large monitor, or that Moloch horridus is
likely to have a bizarre appearance. In the botanical realm,
there are no prizes for guessing that Magnolia grandiflora
But isn’t Latin a dead language? Why not use good old
has large flowers. But some rudimentary knowledge of
common names in plain English? Everyone understands
Latin can tell you much more. Black is ‘nigreos’ (an
that. Well, the reality is that common names are probably example being the Galapagos tortoise, Chelonoidis nigra,
worse than the old polynomial appendages. Besides the
whose species name actually comes via the Spanish);
confusion caused when descriptive terms don’t translate
white is ‘album’ (Amphisbaena alba is the White Worm
precisely into other languages, a single species can have
Lizard); red is ‘rubrum’ (Ctenophorus rubens is the
multiple common names. Perhaps the prime example is
Reddening Sand-dragon); and green is ‘viridis’ (Morelia
Tiliqua rugosa, which is a contender for the most com-
viridis, the Green Tree Python). Also instructive is east or
mon names of any organism. Sleepy Lizard, Pinecone
‘oriens’ (e.g. Varanus tristis orientalis), and west which is
Lizard, Boggi, Shingleback, Bobtail and Stumpy-tail: all occidens (e.g. Nephrurus levis occidentalis). Species
of which are interchangeable and none of which denote
names may also be indicative of the country of origin, for
subspecies. On the flip side, sometimes more than one
example Camelia sinensis and C. japonica (China and
species can have the same common name. Nephrurus levis Japan respectively).
and N. laevissimus are both known as the Smooth Knob-
tailed Gecko, and this led licensing authorities in
It gets more interesting. Without too much of a stretch
Queensland to add the wrong species to the list of reptiles (the pun is wholly intentional), Chelodina longicollis can
allowed to be sold in shops. What about a Northern Spiny- be inferred to mean a type of long-necked turtle. Many
tailed Gecko versus a northern Spiny-tailed Gecko? Could people would be aware that Tyrannosaurus rex translates
mean anything, right? Especially when used verbally, or
aptly as ‘king of the tyrant lizards’ (incidentally, along
at the start of a sentence where the first word is routinely with E. coli, it is also
capitalised (i.e. ‘Northern....’). In another example of the one of a very few
misleading nature of some common names, the Red Panda species for which,
and the Giant Panda, which is actually a bear, don’t even when written, the
belong to the same family, while the Koala ‘Bear’ is not a generic name is
bear at all!
almost always
abbreviated to a
And the reality is that scientific names, or ‘Latin names’, capital). Sure
are often quite descriptive, especially when you get used enough, Varanus
to some of the terminology. It doesn’t take too much
caudolineatus has
Left: The Linnaeus
Garden in Uppsala is the
oldest botanical garden in
Sweden. It has been
faithfully restored
according to the design
from 1745 and contains
approximately 1,300
species of plants, all
known to have been
cultivated by Linnaeus.
Image by Andreas Trepte,
www.photo-natur.net.
Top right: another
view of the garden.
Image by vetpathologist.
Bottom right: Linnaeus
has been commemorated
on many Swedish postage
stamps and bank notes.
Image by IB Photography.