Long and Short Names

I like short and simple names, so when learning new taxons, I remember the simpler of the two of common name vs. scientific name. When I need to refer to the other name, I check iNat Taxa Info.

Examples:

Do you remember similarly?
What are some of yours?
Any favorites?

Related Topics:

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No wonder that is impossible to spell!

German botanist Adelbert von Chamisso after the Baltic German botanist Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, his friend and colleague on Otto von Kotzebue’s scientific expedition to California and the greater Pacific circa 1810 aboard the Russian ship *Rurik

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I’m better at remembering names that I find esthetically pleasing. Hence, the beautiful junior synonym Chrysalidocarpus is easier for me to remember than the ugly accepted name Dypsis. Likewise, the same tree’s common names: to me, it will always be Butterfly Palm (which brings to mind the image of a butterfly), not iNaturalist’s default Areca Palm (which brings to mind someone spitting betel nut juice), even though both those names have the same number of syllables.

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I like simple common names, especially two-syllable names, such as this selection:

Scaled Quail
White Stork
Rock Wren
Wood Duck
Pied Stilt
Horned Lark
Monarch
Blue Jay
Black Swan
Merlin
Kelp Gull
Redhead
Snow Goose
Killdeer

Red Fir
Chamise
Pale Flax
Milkmaids
Fivespot
Toyon
Stinkbells
Fireweed
Blue Oak
Gray Pine
Fringe Cups
Snowplant

Preferably without names of people or places in them, and descriptive of the organism.

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As a hawkwatcher who is privileged to see a bunch of them, I have to say that Merlin shouldn’t have a two-syllable name. You’ve barely got time for one syllable before they’re past you!

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Epidendrum platypleuromegaloclinium will always be a favorite of mine.

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My favorite botanical name is Michauxia tchihatcheffii. I don’t know if I’m pronouncing it correctly, but I love the texture of the sounds.

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Hope it gets observed in iNat someday, found a photo here.

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