Mark and I used to have this running debate. He called this plant an Erica because that is what they are called in South Africa. I call this plant a Heather because that is what they are called both here and in Scotland. We would go back and forth about this in a good-natured way until one day I made an important discovery. Erica is the latin name of some varieties while Heather is the common name for the whole group of shrubs. Some plant tags even list this one as Heather Erica, so I guess we can safely say that we are both right about this one. Now we have this beautiful Heather Erica growing very harmoniously in our front yard.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Heather or Erica?
Mark and I used to have this running debate. He called this plant an Erica because that is what they are called in South Africa. I call this plant a Heather because that is what they are called both here and in Scotland. We would go back and forth about this in a good-natured way until one day I made an important discovery. Erica is the latin name of some varieties while Heather is the common name for the whole group of shrubs. Some plant tags even list this one as Heather Erica, so I guess we can safely say that we are both right about this one. Now we have this beautiful Heather Erica growing very harmoniously in our front yard.
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5 comments:
And that is what is wrong with common names as opposed to scientific names!
Susan
My best friend is called Karen, after her mother 'Heather', she told me that as a name in Scotland Karen is a derivitive of Erika. All 3 referring to the plant..
Woo Hoo! Susan has arrived in the blogisphere!
Are you sure it isn't Calluna ??!
Wikipedia has a nice entry on fynbos (Ericas are one kind of fynbos)
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