The scientific name is for use when accurate designation of a species is required; the common name for ordinary speech. "What a beautiful Quercus alba!" sounds very silly and pedantic, even if it falls on scientific ears. Only persons of very shallow scientific learning use it on such informal occasions.
Let us keep the most beautiful and fitting among common names, and work for their general adoption. There are no hard names once they become familiar ones. Nobody hesitates or stumbles over chrysanthemum and rhododendron, though these sonorous Greek derivatives have four syllables. Nobody asks what these names are "in plain English."
TREES WORTH KNOWING
TREES
PART I