Oh, I glean such joy from the common names of the botanicals!
It's generally more of a reflection of our own history—hopes, foibles, idiosyncrasies, imaginings, bêtes noires—than of the label-heavy plant's. They, after all, got along just fine before we named them; let's hope the weight of the nomenclature doesn't break them down.
For example, take True Solomon Seal (and if that's not enough, its Latin name is polygonatum biflorum). The plant's below ground portion is a rhizome, a rootlike subterranean stem, commonly horizontal in position, that usually produces roots below and sends up shoots progressively from the upper surface. After each growing season when the above ground stem breaks off it leaves a circular scar that to some resembles the “Seal of Solomon” of Hebrew folklore.
In our area, there is a true and a false Solomon Seal. Knowing this makes you as wise as Solomon. Although both plants were used as herbal medicinals by Native Americans, the true Solomon Seal apparently had more applications. It was preferred to the false, hence the true one was truly better.
The flowers of the true hang below the leaf stem like small yellow bells. (For a photo of the false, see my May 10 posting.)
And just in case you are wondering about that lengthy Latin name, Polygonatum is from the Greek and means "many knees," a reference to the yearly joints on the rhizomes, and biflorum means that the flowers are in twos, hence "many kneed, two flowered." Dull, but descriptive.
- Photo taken at Ijams Nature Center
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