For the longest time, I thought Kentucky bluegrass was native to North America, but it’s not. It just does well in Kentucky. Canada thistle sounds like it’s native to Canada, but that’s just where it was creeping into the United States from. There’s other examples I’ve come across that I can’t remem…

@rupertclayton provided a very informative reply in topic: Scientific v. Common Name regarding Spanish Clover (Acmispon americanus) .

I can’t find anything that says A. syriaca is native to Syria. Although, I wondered about the name, too.

One that usually stumps me is the common name of “Eastern”, which usually references the East Coast of the US. For example, Eastern Skunk Cabbage is native to the East Coast, as is Eastern Cottontail and Eastern Gray Squirrel. However, some, like Eastern Osprey and Far Eastern Smartweed tend to make…

Finally, Virginia Meadowsweet isn’t even in Virginia, where it’s mainly found in North Carolina and West Virginia. Some just don’t make sense

[image] taylorsturm: You’d be surprised how many people plant Nipponanthemum nipponicum on Long Island, New York, thinking it’s native, because one of its common names is “Montauk Daisy.” A cursory glance of its scientific name, however, would quickly suggest its Japanese provenance! Ironical…

Is this why iNaturalist changed the common name of Erigeron karvinskyanus from Santa Barbara daisy (not native to Santa Barbara) to Mexican fleabane (native to Mexico)? Klamath weed (common St. John’s wort) is another European introduction; just that early reports of its being problematic were in t…

Phidippus carolinensis It’s found no where near North or South Carolina, but in the SouthWest US like TX.

[image] broacher: How about the Spanish Flu virus? Nobody’s sure yet where the virus originated, but it’s now known that there was an outbreak in a military base in Kansas prior to the newsreels labelling it Spanish. But that was hushed up, of course. When the Spanish Flu pandemic started at…

I like Acaena novae-zelandiae, which actually came from Australia, though we succeeded in correcting the mistake when we eventually exported it as a weed to New Zealand.

The name sounds native, but it's not

Nature Talk

averagewalrus July 26, 2022, 4:26am 29

Lycaena phlaeas is native to North America, it just has a pretty insanely wide range across the entire northern hemisphere, I think small copper is generally the name used for its Eurasian range though?

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The name sounds native, but it's not

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