English names - do people find them helpful?

[juliejam]

Originally Posted by cybershot

That'll be emetica I take it!

You Guys do make me laugh...So i for got the T..you dont miss a thing do you..


Julie

[Paul mabbott]

Yes and, mainly, no!

For birds and mammals I, like most people, I imagine, have grown up with vernacular names - indeed, with birds, the Linnean names of some species have changed before I've learned them!

With most plants, I mainly know the proper name better than the English one and have to look the latter up and it's with plants that I think there are the most confusions - people have different 'common' names for the same species, the same names for different species and so forth. What is more, the systematic names are useful - you can see instantly which plants are closely related (belong to the same genus).

As for fungi, invertebrates and so forth, the 'common' names are all made up by people who assume that the majority of us are too dumb to use Latin words so best to learn the proper name straight off and not get into the confusion of so called 'vernacular' names.

[Nettle Runner]

It might be useful if we had, within a reference section, a simple dictionary of latin words that are typically used to make up the descriptive / species names.

Then a latin name would/might be given more meaning when the descriptive names can be unfathomed, and become more memorable.

I'm not sufficiently up on latin to give an example, but I hope you get my drift.
Les

[NickCantle]

I think I know what you mean Les.

Something like remembering Daldinia concentrica because of its concentric rings?

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

Hi Chris,

I've never heard of Schizophyllum commune being called 'Common Porecrust- Always 'Split Gill'.

hi Nick

if you look for Schizophyllum commune on the Fungal Records Database and then go to the NBN Gateway map - there is is! try:

NBN Gateway: Common Porecrust (Schizophyllum commune) grid map

it should go straight to it - or is it just me seeing it ?

Chris

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

I think I know what you mean Les.

Something like remembering Daldinia concentrica because of its concentric rings?

and 'Daldinia' because the fungus was named in honour of the Swiss mycologist Agostino Daldini (a monk!)

by the way, when I was checking up on that I came across the following

diss-epsilon.slu.se/archive/00000010/01/91-576-6052-2.fulltext.pdf

it's worth checking out (extremely interesting: fairly technical though) but it has drawn to my attention that what has been generally called Daldinia concentrica is actually three separate species; and that the name many people have been giving to the small Daldinia on burnt substrates - D. vernicosa - is incorrect!

gulp!

I need to pursue this further . . .

Chris