PLANT NAMES
This book has been written by an amateur gardener for other amateurs; and I have made it as readable and enjoyable as I could. But in the interests of clarity and accuracy, Latin botanical names are used in preference to the vernacular. This is the only way to be sure plants are correctly identified. Popular names are confusing. Kenilworth ivy, grape ivy, and English ivy certainly sound as if they were related in some way; but when you use botanical names (Cymbalaria muralis, Cissus striata, and Hedera helix, you know they are not. By using the botanical names you are more likely to find the ivy you want in a reference book or catalogue.
For most plants, Hortus Second has been used as the authority for identification and spelling of names; but in the interests of readability, the double ii ending has been reduced to a single i. For a number of plants that have become available since Hortus was last revised (1941), I have referred to Exotica II, by A. B. Graf.
Unless a plant name is complete (genus plus species—plus variety, if any), it is neither capitalized nor italicized. (The caladium is a favorite foliage plant.) Complete botanical names are italicized, but only the generic name has an initial capital letter, even when the specific name has been derived from the proper name of some person or place. (The diminutive Caladium humboldti needs humidity.) When you see a plant name in italics, you will know that this is a recognized botanical species or one of its varieties, and not a man-made hybrid.
The names of recognized hybrids, seedlings, and mutations of either or both are not italicized, but are capitalized and enclosed in single quotation marks (caladium ‘Little Rascal’). Common or popular names are set in regular type with initial capital letters only for proper nouns, when they appear in text. In separate listings each word is capitalized.