I tried checking on the species page, but it said the common name was already added.
For Triadica sebifera, known on iNaturalist as Chinese Tallow, I think the common name in English, at least in the southern United States should be changed to “Popcorn Tree”, because that’s the name everyone I’ve spoken to offline knows it by.
When I call it Chinese tallow, because that’s the name iNaturalist uses, people have no idea what I’m talking about. If I ask someone what they call the tree, they said everyone they know calls it Popcorn Tree.
I mean, obviously the name isn’t very formal or anything, but it is definitely the actual common name that it’s known by at least in Georgia.
Recently Bidens Alba had its common name changed from Romerillo to White Beggarticks, so I know it’s possible, I just wasn’t sure who to ask about this.
TLDR: 90% of people I talk to offline know the Chinese tallow tree as Popcorn tree, is there a way to make this the default common name for the area, so it’s more accurate?
When you add a common name you can add a locality to it, so try separate states if it doesn’t allow you to add it for the country, but any added common name can be used, so if it says it’s added, you and everybody can type it in.
I’ve lived and work on habitat protection and restoration in the southern U.S. (especially Texas) for 50 years and have never heard the species refered to as that. It’s been Chinese Tallow as long as I can remember. The standard USDA PLANTS database lists it as Chinese Tallow as do all of the regional botany manuals at my fingertips, and even the ever-worrisome Wikipedia only includes popcorn tree as 5th in a list of common names. So clearly there are differing social, scientific, and cultural contexts for any given common name.