I'm not a scientist. On a scale of 1-10, I would estimate I am roughly a -3 scientist. I'm a graphic designer, I design stuff, I don't even fully understand the technology that I use to design things. Honestly, though, that's totally fine, no one is relying on me to understand physics... just to make stuff look pretty.
But I still use the scientific names of plants.
Not always... Look, I get it, me calling my Syngonium podophyllum 'Pink Allusion' by it's scientific name is way more obnoxious than just being like 'oh, my pink arrowhead plant.' Usually I would say my arrowhead plant, or maybe my syngonium, but I know the name. I try to remember the scientific names of all my plants. It's important.
Before we get into the actual scientific name, lets take a closer look at the actual taxonomy. We all took Biology, we all know that all living things are categorized into a binomial nomenclature which is a two part naming system -- kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species -- with the genus species making up the scientific name. Plants are in their own kingdom... the plant kingdom, which divides into 12 'phylum'. Most plants are in the 'Tracheophyta' division, which is an organized system for moving substances -- so a vascular system. In other words, Tracheophyta are plants with tubes.
Tracheophyta breaks up into 12 classes, the three biggest classes are Gymnospermae, Angiospermae, and Filicinae. Plants in the Gymnospermae class produce naked seeds, like cones, like pine trees. Filicinae are ferns, which are plants that uses spores as their reproductive systems. And plants in the Angiospermae class produce fruit bearing plants with enclosed seeds, which is roughly everything else. Get it? Got it? Good.
Angiospermae divide into two subclasses, monocotyledonae and dicotyledonae. Monocots have one cotyledon (seed leaf) with vertical veins, while dicots have two seed leaves with reticulate (branching) veins. Orchids are monocots, and most trees, shrubs, and flowers are dicots.
Then we break into orders. One example of a dicot order is a Sapindales, which is an order of flowering plants, including maples, citrus, cashews, mangos... stuff like that.
And then it breaks into families. Families are a group of closely related plants, which is based on structures or a plants biochemistry. Knowing what family a plant is in is important relative to gardening because plants in the same family have similar resistance and susceptibilities, so if you plant plants in the same family near one another, and one gets sick, chances are the other one will get sick too.
Ah, now for the good stuff. Genus. Plants in the same genus have similar reproductive systems, typically the way their seeds look. Plants in the maple genus, for example, typically have those point maple leaves... but not all the time, so that's not why they're in this genus. They're considered a part of the maple genus because they have similar flowers, fruits, and seeds.
Then, finally, species. Plants in the same species share similar vegetative and reproductive characteristics that distinguish them from other plants in the same genus. Typically, only plants within the same species can breed with one another.
So now that you know all that, you can understand scientific names better.
Let's take apart the name of my favorite plant -- the Polka Dot Plant... scientific name Hypoestes phyllostachya. Let's break that up. Hypoestes phyllostachya is the species, and must be either underlined or italicized, otherwise it isn't technically written correctly. The genus should always have the first letter capitalized, and the specific epithet should always be entirely lowercase. Hypoestes is the genus, and phyllostchya is the specific epithet, but only if it's paired with the genus, otherwise it's just some random latin word, but the genus will always be a genus. It can break down even further, into varieties and cultivars, but I'm guessing you get the point.
But so, why bother? I just told you both names, and you only need one to go out and buy the plant. Or so you think. I'm familiar with this plant as a Polka Dot Plant, because when I bought the seed packet from Target, they we're labeled as a Polka Dot Plant. But if you google it's scientific name, you'll find that Hypoestes phyllostachya is actually called Freckle Face... oh wait, no, it's the Confetti Plant... wait, no I was right it is the Polka Dot Plant.. or, wait, maybe the red one is Confetti plant and the pink one is Confetti Surprise... Birthday Plant? It's all of the above! Because a plant can be called literally anything you want it to be called, it's like giving your friend a nickname, except it makes it really frickin hard to find the plant you're looking for. Why? Think about it.
You go to a nursery and ask to buy a Polka Dot Plant. The nursery says, no, we don't own Polka Dot Plants... but they do!! Except, they call them Freckle Face Plants, so they don't know that that's what you're looking for. So you have to leave and go to another nursery, that's further away and known for their expensive prices. But if you would've known the scientific name, Hypoestes phyllostachya, they would've been able to bring you right to the plant you wanted! It has a different common name, but it's the same thing -- how do you know? because it has the same scientific name!
Also, if you googled something like 'Blue Bell' you'd find 200 different species of bluebells... and I bet none of them were the plant you were looking for. There's only one plant with the name Hyacinthoides non-scripta. So, if you wanna search through 500 google search images, be my guest, but this makes life a little easier.
To me, that's really the most important reason you should use the binomial system, but there are other reasons to use it. For one, it's international. Obviously if you go to China and don't speak Chinese, you asking a non-English speaker where the snap dragons are is gonna cause some confusion... but the binomial system uses Latin. And I'll be damned if anyone in the world speaks Latin (not even me, and I took 3 years of Latin in High School)... but it's universal. Everyone uses the same binomial system for scientific names, so if you asked "Antirrhinum?" you might get a little more use out of the question! And now you can buy plants in China, I guess. If you wanted. Plus, since Latin is such a dead language, you could make up words. If I discovered a plant I could name his after myself, Magdalynae, and nobody would question it. It would just make sense.
It also is helpful to use the scientific names of plants when you're trying to figure out what the heck it is... and like, what the heck it needs. The binomial system uses a Latin system, so typically the genus species is relative to facts about the plant. So, if a plant was Magdalynae alba, you could assume it was discovered by someone named Magdalyn, and alba means white so something on the plant must be white. Hypoestes comes from the latin words hypo, meaning under, and estia, meaning house. This refers to the fact that the flowers bloom beneath all the leaves. Genera show that plants are related, which means they have similar environmental and cultural requirements. It gives light to maybe how you should treat them, where you should plant them, and what you should plant them around. And take the plant Hellebrous orientalis, the Lenton Rose, just as one final example. Hellebrous comes from the latin word helein, meaning injuries/destroys, and the word Bora, meaning food. That means this plant is poisonous to animals -- including humans! If you knew that, you'd keep your pets and children away from it.
At the end of the day, sure, you don't have to walk around spouting off all the long, complicated scientific names of your plants... but you should at least know them. It'll help you more in the long run just to be able to recognize what your plant is, and it'll definitely make you a better gardener.
It’s party thyme.