Why Knowing A Plants Botanical Name Can Save Your Life

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This week, a conversation about elderberry plants between @quochuy and @riverflows had @kindredacres worried. It felt incredibly important to remind - or indeed - inform people dabbling in plant medicines to really, really be certain about the botanical names of their plants. @kindredacres is a passionate homesteader who is a firm advocate for growing your own food, and we welcome her editorial which explores why we really, really need to know what we are doing - or we can suffer the consequences.

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Properly identifying plants is super important. It is vital that you know a plants botanical name and the added nomenclature if you plan to ingest it.

Using common names of plants can get you into some trouble. Take Jasmine for example. Carolina Jasmine is not at all the same as the jasmine you would use to make tea with. More on this in a bit. Now, if you are a novice gardener and you purchase what you think is a jasmine plant to make tea for consumption but what you actually have is known as Carolina Jasmine, you'd be in for a big surprise - it is highly poisonous. You would be lucky to survive at all.

Thus, this information can save your life -especially if you are a forager or you like to add new, unique, or uncommon edibles to your garden.


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Photo credit to NC State Extensions at NCSU.edu

So what do you need to know to properly identify and obtain information about a plant?

Think about the Big 3 - genus, species, and cultivar (also known as variety).

Knowing the Big 3 is the most important aspect of gathering information about the safety, use, growing habit, needs of, and anything else you need to know about a plant. There are other bits of information within the botanical names of plants, such as the plant family, that are helpful, but the Big 3 are the most vital and important bits of information.

Proper spelling is also an absolute MUST when it comes to searching for information about a plant. There are many plants that are off by only a single letter or two and that may make a big difference when trying to obtain information.

Let's take nightshades for example.

Nightshades are in the botanical family of Solanacea. Some examples of edible nightshades are eggplants, tomatoes, peppers, etc. But then you have one of the most deadly plants within the same botanical family of plants as the edible nightshades. Even just one berry from the deadly nightshade plant can kill you. While both eggplants and deadly nightshade are in the Solanaceae family, eggplants are in the genus of Solanum, yet deadly nightshade is in the genus of Atropa. Eggplants are in the species S. melongena, whereas deadly nightshade is in the species A. belladonna (Atropa belladonna).

Break it down one step further and then you have the cultivar or variety of eggplant such as "Black Beauty" or my favorite.... "Aswad".

Black Beauty are safe. Deadly Nightshade is - well, deadly.

The Big 3 can save your life.


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Black Beauty eggplants we grew last year

Let's go back to that jasmine plant we were talking about at the beginning of the article. When I say jasmine, how would you know what jasmine I'm talking about? That beautiful aromatic flower? The kind you make tea with?? Or am I talking about a deadly kind? Am I even talking about jasmine at all??

There are many plants commonly called Jasmine but some may have absolutely no relation to the jasmine used to make tea with.

Let's break this down.

Jasmine, the kind that is used for tea, is in the family Oleaceae. Yes, the same family as the edible olive...the kind used to make that good ol' olive oil. The genus of these jasmine plants is Jasminum. As for the species, there are over 200 species of jasmine!! For now, let's talk about the Jasminum sambac species. This is the type typically used for tea. Now that we know what species we are talking about, we now need to know the cultivar or variety. There a few varieties within the Jasminum sambac species but for now, let's just say 'Belle of India' or 'Arabian Nights'. Now that we broke that down, let's talk about another 'jasmine' commonly known as Carolina Jasmine (or yellow jasmine, wild jassamine, evening trumpetflower, and a few others).

If I were to say this to you, would you know what I was talking about?

Some people might, but others might assume it is just another variety of jasmine, right?

Wrong.

And that could be fatal.

Carolina Jasmine is not at all the same as the jasmine we just spoke about....in fact, it isn't even in the same family let alone genus. Carolina Jasmine is in the family Gelsemiaceae, not the Oleaceae family as the tea jasmine from above. Carolina Jasmine is in the genus Gelsemium, not Jasminum like the tea jasmine. Carolina Jasmine is in the species G. sempervirens. Just a small amount of Carolina Jasmine, properly called Gelsemium sempervirens, can be deadly. It's not only toxic to humans but it is deadly to bees as well!!

This is exactly why using common names can be so dangerous.

It is understandable why some people choose to use common names. Heck, even I use them - but almost always try to include the scientific name within my writings. Let's face it, some of the botanical names are hard to spell let alone pronounce! It is okay to use a common name in general conversation but when it comes to proper identification, adding something new to your edible garden, foraging, or ingesting any new plants, you should take the time to find out the proper information.

Knowing the botanical names and the Big 3 could save your life!!

With lots of love
~Kindred Acres

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Have you ever had dangerous encounters with plants?

Are you always certain that you have the right species?

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@tipu curate
@giphy curate 100


A huge hug from @amico! 🤗

#sbi-skip !trdo

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Also important to stayed tuned to your senses. I have detected toxic plants by holding them in my tongue and feeling what it transmits. One time felt extremely obvious because body immediately rejected it and I spit it out. I researched and found it was a type of highly toxic nightshade. I'm not saying to only relay on senses, but gotta be alert that way too :) Nice post and great information.

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The common names can get so confusing, sometimes. Take plantain for one. Talk to one person and they're thinking of that stringy leaved weed, but another is thinking bananas. Another is artichoke (thankfully they're both edible though). I mention Jerusalem artichoke and people think of the thistle.

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Such an important reminder! I remember someone talking to me about what she called "Mountain Holly." I'm thinking red berries... but when she finally showed me the actual plant, I was like, OH!!! You mean mahonia!!! With sour bluish berries that are wonderful against strep throat!

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Thanks for this heads up on using the proper identification for plants with the genus, species, and cultivar.
I use to do a lot of seed trading where people would use common names and it would be so frustrating to get something that was not at all what you expected!
Great info to know!

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