Monthly Archives: December 2005

Latin Names and Nomenclature Questions…

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I posted the following in the Gardening community ( link )

Hello Fellow Plant-lovers… I’ve just began to get interested in the Latin names of my various plants and have a few questions about nomenclature. Please forgive me/correct me if I’m using the incorrect terms.

I’m using these 6 examples for the questions below:
a. Kalanchoe tomentosa
b. Crassula perfoliata ‘Falcata’
c. Crassula perfoliata var. falcata
d. Crassula perfoliata falcata ‘Morgans Beauty’
e. Crassula perfoliata ssp. falcata
f. Crassula lycopodioides f. variegata

I generally have seen the Latin names as [Genus species] as in (a). I’ve also seen [Genus species ‘Something’] as in (b).

1. Is the ‘Something’ between the single quotes called a “cultivar”?

Today as I was surfing Google, I ran into a couple of unfamiliar nomenclatures (c-f)

2. Is (c) equivalent to (b)?… and what does “var.” mean?
3. In (d) they have 4 terms. Is this a correct usage?
4. In (e) and (f), what does “ssp.” and “f.” mean.

Sorry, if I sound so elementary. I’ve generally been using the common names of my plants, but recently discovered I have a couple of plants that have the same common name, like “Jade Plant”.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Also, if any one of you is good at identifying plant names, I have a photo set on flickr.com with plants I can’t identify. You can check it out here. ( link )

Pretty Weeds

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As I was taking a break at work. I noticed this this spent Dandelion flower under a tree on the sidewalk (The Embarcadero/Levi’s Plaza Park, San Francisco). Luckily, I was carrying my camera and I snapped up this photo:

Spent Dandelion Flower
Spent Dandelion Flower

I then noticed more weeds.

Unknown Weeds
Unknown Weeds   Unknown Weeds

Anyone know what these two weeds are?

Right before writing this entry, I responded to comment about one of my older Oxalis photos. I then remembered that I had another photo of light purple Oxalis that grow as weed in our cactus and succulent pots. I just leave them and enjoy there added color.

Pretty Oxalis Flowers
Pretty Oxalis Flowers

Older Photos…

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I was going through older photos in my iPhoto library and found two that I took at my friend, Howard’s, old apartment. These were taken on March 2001.

Yellow Oxalis
Yellow Oxalis		     Faucet
Faucet

I use to call these Clovers, but recently discovered that they are actually Oxalis. They grow as weeds in San Francisco and I read that they are hard to get rid of. One of my friend, Dave, told me that as a child he use to pick the long flower stems and suck on them. I tried it and surprised to find it very tangy like a lemon.

Earthworm Rescue

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While I was on break, I noticed 3 earthworms stuck in a puddle of water on the street. Lifting them with a pine needle, I safely returned them to the grass where they should be… There’s my good deed for the day… now back to being mean and nasty!

Ornamental Grass + Seeds

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As I was walking with some co-workers to Taco Bell for lunch, I saw an Ornamental Grass on the corner of Drumm and Washington in San Francisco with seeds ready to pop out. They were calling out, “Joey, take me… take me home!!!”… so I did. I’m not sure what variety it is, but I took a photo of the plant if anyone can figure out what it is. I’ll try to plant these in the spring and see what come out.

Found Ornamental Grass Seeds + Plant
Ornamental Grass Seeds   Ornamental Grass

When I got home, I remembered other seeds I collected in the summer.

2 Ornamental Grass Seeds + an Unknown Tropical Fruit Seeds photos

Fuyu Persimmons

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We had some after dinner…

Quick Response + Rose Stumps + Gardening Thoughts…

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I wrote an email to White Flower Farm last night asking if they knew what varieties of Coleus my coworker purchased from them… and this morning, I got a response with the names. They are Black Magic, Peridot, Bronze Pagoda, Garnet Robe and Rattlesnake… Now I’ll update my previous entry and my flickr page to reflect this information.

My Mom finally cut down the Roses in the front yard to about a foot from the stump. There were a few flowers left, but nothing significant. Our front yard looks so bare now.

As I was watching A Gardener’s Diary before bed last night, I saw this gardener who grew Clematis through one of her bushes. It made the illusion that bush was flowering. That gave me an idea. How it would look if we grew Clematis next to our White Birch tree in the front. Would it enhance the tree with flowers or would it look too weird. Hmm???… My Mom doesn’t really like the Birch tree, but we can not chop it down because of our city’s municipal code prohibits it.

I was also thinking about making a make-shift grow-light thingy-a-gig in my room like my LiveJournal friend, lblanchard. Just a small one… maybe I can take one of my old aquariums, replace the light with a warm white fluorescent bulb and add mirrors on the sides to intensify the light. I’ll add gravel or stones the the bottom with just a little bit of water to add some humidity. Hmm?… That’s an idea… Lemme research that on Google…

Look What I Found Sprouting…

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Look what I found sprouting in the kitchen. I’m going to bring this to work and pot it up until the weather gets warm enough outside to plant.

Ginger
Ginger