Intrigued about Latin plant names?

This isn't just about words, these names are storytellers; they are descriptive of the plant and some are almost poetic. Others describe colours, places, shapes and more.

Photo by @10_the_green_room (Sophie Lees). A Barry’s Cactus Club collector

Latin names are usually made up of two parts as a minimum, though sometimes they are a bit longer. This is called the binomial naming system and is a highly descriptive way to recognise plants. It is also used globally so the confusion created by local names and different languages is no longer a problem.

Once you start to understand them, Latin plant names are fun!

Here are some examples of Latin plant descriptors common to cacti:

Cereus: From the Latin word cereus, meaning a wax taper (candle). 

Cleistocactus: From the Greek word cleistos, meaning closed.

Echinocactus: From the Greek words echinos, meaning hedgehog and kaktos, which means thistle.

Espostoa: Nicolas Esposto was a Peruvian botanist.

Gymnocactus: From the Greek word gymnos which means naked.

Heliocereus: From Greek, meaning sun cactus.

Lithops: From the Greek word lithos, meaning stone, and opis, meaning appearance.

Mammillaria: From the Latin word mammilla, meaning nipple or teat.

Notocactus : From the Greek word notos meaning "south".