Humans
as a creature with intellect and an inquisitive mind have
a penchant to give names to all sorts of natural and cultural
objects. For a new-born baby, the name given by parents often
denotes an expectation or a wish. For natural objects, primitive
humans gave them names initially for utilitarian purpose,
probably to identify them as friends (useful or beneficial)
or foes (harmful or obnoxious), to help to eke out a living
from the harsh and changeable environment. Upon satisfying
our basic needs, we could explore other 'neutral' objects
and name them as well, some of which would probably ignite
our innate curiosity to know them better for purposes other
than the practical ones.
Once a name was given to natural object,
such as a tree, it can be surmised that the new epithet would
begin to circulate within a human group. Contacts between
human groups would spread the use of the name whereupon it
would gradually gain popularity and acceptance. Migration
of adventurous people to far away places would spread the
name farther afield. In the ideal world filled by one people
using one language, given the fullness of time the name would
eventually become universal. In the real world, due to physical
and cultural barriers, we tend to give different names to
the same thing.
Would you like to find out the origin
of the scientific and common names of this tree, Bauhinia
blakeana (Hong Kong Orchid Tree)?
Names given by common people to trees are common
names; those given after scientific studies by scientists are scientific
names. Different people in different places at different times tend
to give different common names in different languages to the same
tree. This could occur even for the same people using the same language
dwelling in adjacent villages. On the other hand, the same common
name sometimes refers to different species by different people.
To avoid ambiguities and facilitate scientific communications, the
botanists have adopted an international code to give a unique and
universal scientific name to every plant. Latin was used, as it
is a dead language with unchanging grammatical rules, and was the
language of science and intellectuals in the eighteenth century
when modern classification of living things was initiated.
Let us explain using Chinese Banyan (Ficus
microcarpa). 'Chinese Banyan' is the English common name;
it is also known as Small-leaved Banyan. By convention, the initial
letter of every word in a common name is capitalized. There are
common names in Chinese and in every language where the tree occurs
naturally in Southeast Asia, Indian Subcontinent, and Eastern Australia.
Each plant is identified by one scientific name
which is composed of two parts known as Latin binomials. The first
part (Ficus) is the genus (plural,
genera) name which must begin with a capital letter. The second
part (microcarpa) is the species
(plural, same spelling) epithet which begins with a small letter,
and must be used only in conjunction with its genus name. Genus
and species are lower categories in the hierarchical system of plant
classification. A genus can contain one to many species; used alone
the genus name refers to all constituent species. Scientific names
are printed in italics and underlined in written or typed manuscripts.
The generic name Ficus
originated from the Latin word for the fig, that is the unique clustered
arrangement of many minute flowers (and hence fruits set after pollination)
of this tree group. The specific name microcarpa
means small-sized fruits. Ficus
is a large genus with over 800 species of different forms, including
creepers, climbers, shrubs, small and large trees.
by
Prof. C.Y. Jim Green
Fun Committee and The University of Hong Kong February
2002
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Last Updated:
2/13/2003 5:02:38 PM