Page 15 - Simply Veg 3.21

Below I have set out some common fruit and vegetables with their Latin names ready for your next pub quiz!
Allium ameloprasum..................... Leek Allium cepa......................... Bulb onion Allium sativum ............................ Garlic Apium graveolens...................... Celery Beta vulgaris Var. esculenta ...Beetroot Beta vulgaris Var. cicla......Swiss Chard Brassica oleracea ................ see above Capsicum annuum ........ Sweet pepper Capsicum frutescens .......Chilli pepper Cucumis melo ............................Melon Cucumis sativus..................Cucumber Cucumis maxima..........Winter squash/
pumpkin
Cucumis pepo ............marrow/summer squash
Cucumis moschata....Butternut squash Daucus carota ............................Carrot Foeniculum vulgare ................... Fennel Lactuca sativa ..........................Lettuce Pastinaca sativa .......................Parsnip Phaseolus coccineus ...... Runner bean Phaseolus vulgaris ...........French bean Pisum satium..................................Pea Raphanus sativus ......................Radish Solanum melongena............ Aubergine Solanum lycopersicon..............Tomato Solanum tuberosum .................. Potato Spinacea oleracea...................Spinach Vicia faba...........................Broad bean Zea mays........................... Sweet corn
Fruit
Malus domestica ........................ Apple Prunus avium............................. Cherry Prunus domestica ........................Plum Prunus persica ...........................Peach Pyrus communis........................... Pear Rheum X hybridum.................Rhubarb Ribes nigrum ................... Blackcurrent Ribes rubrum.....................Red current Ribes uva-crispa ...............Gooseberry Rubus fruticose ...................Blackberry Rubus idaeus....................... Raspberry Vitis vinifera ................................Grape
That is enough Latin to keep you going for a while. Possibly in a future article I will cover what the words mean. Learn these first and I will test you later!
Lettuce ‘Mosaic’ (mixed cultivars)
broccoli, Calabrese, Brussels sprouts and kales. In fact this second group are all varieties of Brassica oleracea so are very closely related (more later).
Pea ‘Blauwschokker’ close up
• Brussels Sprouts – Brassica oleracea Var. gemmifera ‘Trafalger’
• Calabrese – Brassica oleracea Var. italica ‘Marathon’
• Kohl Rabi - Brassica oleracea Var. gongylodes ‘Purple Top)
Var is an abbreviation for variety and you can see they are all varieties of B. oleracea and also have cultivars which have been bred which is what you order when you order your seeds.
Another reason for knowing the Latin names is if you wish to do some breeding
as for pollination and fertilisation to take place the plants must be closely related. You cannot cross a carrot with an onion as they are not in the same genus or family. But you may be able to cross an onion with a shallot as they are both in the genus Allium.
Knowing which family a plant is in helps with rotation planning as all the Brassicas are kept together as are the families Alliaceae, Solonaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Apiaceae, etc.
Regular readers will know I am quite pedantic about using the word cultivar where many people use variety especially the seed companies. These two words mean different things, a cultivar is a plant that is the result
of hybridisation usually by mankind, a few have occurred in gardens where two closely related plants are growing nearby. A variety is a natural occurring plant in the wild and not been bred such as the wild cabbage. The carrot Daucus carota ‘Sweet
Candle’ is a cultivar as is the
potato Solanum tuberosum
‘King Edward, and the
apple Malus domestica
‘Golden Delicious’. Whereas
cabbage, cauliflower,
Brussels sprouts, Calabrese,
are varieties of Brassica
oleracea, so giving them
there full names are:
• Kale - Brassica oleracea Var. acephala ‘Black Tuscany’
• Cauliflower – Brassica oleracea Var. botrytis ‘Snowball’
• Cabbage – Brassica oleracea Var. capitata ; January King’
this helps to reduce soil borne pests and diseases.
The Latin name system is very good for buying trees and shrubs to ensure you get the correct plants and it is more commonly used here than in vegetable growing.
It can be very irritating when the botanists
occasionally change the plant names. A recent example is Rosemary which used to be called Rosmarinus officinalis but has now been moved to the genus saliva and is called Salvia rosmarinus.
Knowing which family a plant is in helps with rotation planning
Potato ‘Sarpo Blue Danube’
Pepper ‘Redskin’
Simply Vegetables 15