Bill and all, Before Linnaeus introduced the binomial nomenclature, I think plants were named by herbalists. In Latin, but using a descriptive phrase, several words long, rather than a binomial. I think (heard? read somewhere?) that the first binomials were derived in many cases from the old herbalists' descriptive names. I can't be sure of that, but I'm still betting against vernacular origins. I await a scholarly determination.
Cabin fever is rampant, and getting worse in some places! I can't imagine 8 inches of snow in Tennessee! Jim Shields At 05:25 PM 1/10/2011 -0500, you wrote: >"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w = >"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1 = >"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"> >In so many cases I cannot but wonder, which came first. I suspect the >Latin name was adopted from the common name. > >Bill Plummer >Southern Tier of New York > ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 _______________________________________________ Alpine-l mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.science.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/alpine-l
