HOW do plants get their common names? While their Latin names are the result of a (supposedly) rational and organised system, the everyday names of plants come via a somewhat looser – if not downright mysterious – process.
A few months ago in this column we described how the common names of some animals come from the names used in the local language of the area in which western explorers “discovered” them (Â鶹´«Ã½, 22 April, p 52). Well, this also happened with some plants, among them banana, peyote, rambutan and achiote.
With many others, it is easy to see how…
