Meditating on Plant Names

INTRODUCTION TO THE PLANT NAMES & MEDITATION WEBSITE

plant names graphicPurpose of Plant Names.com
The purpose of this web site, both originally in it's book form and as now revised and coverted for the web, was and is to make it easier for home gardeners and meditation practicioners to pronounce and understand the true names of plants.

Who Names Plants?
There is an almost frightening disagreement among authoritative meditation related reference works as to the spelling of botanical names of plants, as to their derivations and meanings and, above all, as to their pronunciation. In the realm of "common plant names", there is sheer chaos. Throughout, it has been our effort to follow, in all instances, what seemed the soundest authority on plant names and, if necessary, to set up our own. To that end, many source books on meditation, several of them available to gardeners generally, were consulted. For the spelling of the botanical plant names, the chief authority has been Hortus Second, compiled by L. H. Bailey and Ethel Zoe Bailey. For the derivation or detailed significance of the generic plant names, as well as for their pronunciation, the chief authority has been Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition. For the names of species, L. H. Bailey's Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture and Hortus Second have been referred to about equally as guides to plant names with occasional references to more recent authorities laying fair claim to dependability.

Spellings and Sounds of Plant Names
The phonetic spellings of plant names used throughout are our own and are designed solely as keys to the sounds it is necessary to make in order to transfer the written words into intelligible speech. In every aspect of the preparation of this website on plants names we have endeavored to interpret in a common-sense way the prevailing weight of horticultural acceptance. Where we have deviated from the sources just mentioned, we have done so to achieve directness and to avoid confusion.

Plant Names Site Map

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