Wildflower derseving a better name for itself!

[Jez]

Lets give this thread a chance by not giving the mods a hard time with posts full of xexe's please!!!! The plant in question is Melittis melissophyllum and I hope your all aware of it's common name, one in my opinion does not deserve and two it would be a lot easier to comment about on WAB!

So here's is your chance-what name's can we come up with that may do justice for such a charming wildflower?

[Deer Stalker]

I don't know Jez......I quite like its common name.

[ron1863]

I don't know how that would sit with the mods as swearing isn't allowed, though I would be interested in how it got it's common name.

[Jez]

Originally Posted by ron1863

I don't know how that would sit with the mods as swearing isn't allowed, though I would be interested in how it got it's common name.

No swearing please & don't give the common name!!!!

Just come up with something nice

Mine name is something sweet & simple- Little Mel : )

I'm sure you can do better!!

[svenrufus]

I can't find anything about where the common name comes from, which is frustrating. However, I am confident that it was given at a time when it had no adverse or offensive connotations. For instance I read that William the conqueror who was not a legitimate child was known as William the , well, you know what, but that this was not a perjorative, merely a descriptive term. Some of what are now swear words were once common and acceptable words - including what many people think is the worst one going. The word that we are thinking of here has a real meaning not just as an insult.

I would hate to come up with another name for it. There are other things in the natural world that get censored on this site, such as a beetle that produces a red liquid from it's 'nose'. These are their given names - if the censoring software is too crude t allow that to pass, so be it, but the given name is the given name, and to change it would be a real shame.

Besides, just making up a new name would be daft as no-one would know what we're talking about.

[KeenTeen17]

I think the common name isn't really meant as an insult. what about B****** toadflax?

[Hedge Witch]

Interesting question Jez. I will try and answer without swearing - that in itself is a challenge.

I take your point that we need to give it a name (wasn't I the one that had to ask you privately what you were on about ), and I take Sven's point that everyone needs to be able to understand what we are talking about.

Melittis melissophyllum is a long name to remember and I cannot find any alternative names.

Personally I think the best solution is to replace a letter so it is allowed, and for the Mods to turn a blind eye. In the same way that if Bustard was to be deemed a swear word, it could be written Bu$tard.

But failing this, I think the only solution is to use the scientific name.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by svenrufus

I can't find anything about where the common name comes from, which is frustrating. .

presumably it isnt a real toadflax ? - that word is/was commonly used to denote something that looked as though it belongs to a family of plants but in fact does not.

as to the whole spelling thing , the rules do forbid disguising swearing by inserting *s or misspelling , so probably the best way is to just use the scientific name, on the rare occasions that we need to refer to it at all.

or if we really must have an alternative name - illegitimate toadflax

[Lancashire Lad]

I believe it does have the less well known common name of "Balm Leaved Melittis".

Regards
Mike.

[thunder]

It is called what it is to distinguish it from Bee Balm (Melissa officinalis), which, as the scientific name tells us, was grown for medicinal purposes. Bee Balm smells rather more pleasant than what the French apparently call Bug Balm.

henrya