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Translation - art & business » Translator resources »
Botany / reliable resource for botanical names
Thread poster: Klaus Urban
Klaus Urban
Klaus Urban  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:29
Member (2005)
English to German
+ ...
Jun 13, 2006

Dear Colleagues,
I am involved in compiling plant descriptions in German. These descriptions include the German names of Botanical names. This is not really a translation challenge, rather a search job for finding what elsewhere has already been established.

While I do have excellent resources available, now and then there are situations that different authorities state different names. Which authority should I rely on. Is there a meta-source which all authorities rely on?
... See more
Dear Colleagues,
I am involved in compiling plant descriptions in German. These descriptions include the German names of Botanical names. This is not really a translation challenge, rather a search job for finding what elsewhere has already been established.

While I do have excellent resources available, now and then there are situations that different authorities state different names. Which authority should I rely on. Is there a meta-source which all authorities rely on?
An example:

The botanical name for "Blaues Gänseblümchen" (English: "Swan River Daisy") is stated as "Brachyscome iberidifolia" in ZANDER, Dictionary of Plant Names, 17th ed, a widely accepted resource in Germany.
The equally reputed Index of Garden PPlants by Mark Griffiths, a RHS resource, states "Brachycome iberidifolia" (without "s" in Brachycome).
Which one is the correct one?

This is only one of many examples.

Can anyone help? ▲ Collapse
 
Maria Karra
Maria Karra  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:29
Member (2000)
Greek to English
+ ...
your example Jun 13, 2006

Klaus Urban wrote:
An example:

The botanical name for "Blaues Gänseblümchen" (English: "Swan River Daisy") is stated as "Brachyscome iberidifolia" in ZANDER, Dictionary of Plant Names, 17th ed, a widely accepted resource in Germany.
The equally reputed Index of Garden PPlants by Mark Griffiths, a RHS resource, states "Brachycome iberidifolia" (without "s" in Brachycome).
Which one is the correct one?



I'm sorry I don't have any knowledge in this field, so I'm only commenting on the example you included. Initially I thought that "brachycome" is the correct term, because I assumed it came from the Greek brachy (short) and come (hair), but then I found the following:

Swan River daisies, native to the Swan River area in Australia, were named in 1816 by Count Alexandre Henri-Gabriel Cassini, who called the plant Brachyscome, then changed the spelling in 1825 to Brachycome. The confusion over which spelling is correct lingers today, and both names are still used.
http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=plant1230

Maria
 
Klaus Urban
Klaus Urban  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:29
Member (2005)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you Jun 13, 2006

Maria,
thank you for your research and the result. This helps a lot in this specific case. Thank you.
Klaus
 
Mark Garland
Mark Garland
United States
Local time: 05:29
English to Latin
+ ...
Look at ipni.org Jun 13, 2006

Klaus Urban wrote:

Dear Colleagues,
I am involved in compiling plant descriptions in German. These descriptions include the German names of Botanical names. This is not really a translation challenge, rather a search job for finding what elsewhere has already been established.

While I do have excellent resources available, now and then there are situations that different authorities state different names. Which authority should I rely on. Is there a meta-source which all authorities rely on?



Dear Klaus,

I am a botanist by training. For years plant taxonomists have used the Index Kewensis for scientific names (this is a publication listing every generic and specific name published since Linnaeus's Species Plantarum in 1753). Now this resource is online as the International Plant Names Index at http://www.ipni.org.

This is the resource for scientific names. Common names are unfortunately not standardized (in English, anyway) and there is no ultimate authority for those.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Mark Garland

[Edited at 2006-06-13 15:06]
 
PFB (X)
PFB (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:29
English to French
+ ...
Reliable Resources for Botanical Names Jun 13, 2006

Hello Klaus,

One I frequently use is from this official French institute: http://www.dijon.inra.fr/flore-france/index.htm

This Swiss one is also very good: http://www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/rsf/fra/mainfra.htm

And you probably already know this one (US ... See more
Hello Klaus,

One I frequently use is from this official French institute: http://www.dijon.inra.fr/flore-france/index.htm

This Swiss one is also very good: http://www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/rsf/fra/mainfra.htm

And you probably already know this one (US Dept of Agriculture Plant Database), but just in case: http://plants.usda.gov/

Hope this helps. ▲ Collapse
 
paolamonaco
paolamonaco  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 05:29
English to Italian
+ ...
other links Jun 13, 2006


While I do have excellent resources available, now and then there are situations that different authorities state different names. Which authority should I rely on. Is there a meta-source which all authorities rely on?


I have experienced the same problem.
I do usually search several resources, which I consider reliable. If they state different things I choose to stick to the nomenclature reported in the Britannica Encyclopaedia.


http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/D_search.html#NAME

http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/iapt/nomenclature/code/SaintLouis/0001ICSLContents.htm#Appendix%20I

http://www.ipni.org/index.html


HTH
Paola
 
Klaus Urban
Klaus Urban  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:29
Member (2005)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Merci Philippe! Jun 13, 2006

Philippe Boucry wrote:

Hello Klaus,

One I frequently use is from this official French institute: http://www.dijon.inra.fr/flore-france/index.htm

This Swiss one is also very good: http://www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/rsf/fra/mainfra.htm

And you probably already know this one (US Dept of Agriculture Plant Database), but just in case: http://plants.usda.gov/

Hope this helps.
 
Klaus Urban
Klaus Urban  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:29
Member (2005)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Gracie, Paola! Jun 13, 2006

Paola Monaco wrote:


While I do have excellent resources available, now and then there are situations that different authorities state different names. Which authority should I rely on. Is there a meta-source which all authorities rely on?


I have experienced the same problem.
I do usually search several resources, which I consider reliable. If they state different things I choose to stick to the nomenclature reported in the Britannica Encyclopaedia.


http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/D_search.html#NAME

http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/iapt/nomenclature/code/SaintLouis/0001ICSLContents.htm#Appendix%20I

http://www.ipni.org/index.html


HTH
Paola


 
Klaus Urban
Klaus Urban  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:29
Member (2005)
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you, Mark, that´s great! Jun 13, 2006

Mark Garland wrote:

Klaus Urban wrote:

Dear Colleagues,
I am involved in compiling plant descriptions in German. These descriptions include the German names of Botanical names. This is not really a translation challenge, rather a search job for finding what elsewhere has already been established.

While I do have excellent resources available, now and then there are situations that different authorities state different names. Which authority should I rely on. Is there a meta-source which all authorities rely on?



Dear Klaus,

I am a botanist by training. For years plant taxonomists have used the Index Kewensis for scientific names (this is a publication listing every generic and specific name published since Linnaeus's Species Plantarum in 1753). Now this resource is online as the International Plant Names Index at http://www.ipni.org.

This is the resource for scientific names. Common names are unfortunately not standardized (in English, anyway) and there is no ultimate authority for those.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Mark Garland

[Edited at 2006-06-13 15:06]


 
Charlotte Blank
Charlotte Blank  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 11:29
Czech to German
+ ...
Some more links, partly to German websites Jun 14, 2006

Hallo Klaus,

here are some more:

http://www.staff.uni-marburg.de/~b_morpho/links.html

This is a rather large collection of commented links to botanical websites - even about plants mentionned in the Bible and "magical plants" - but mainly serious taxonomy sites Unfortunately it is ... See more
Hallo Klaus,

here are some more:

http://www.staff.uni-marburg.de/~b_morpho/links.html

This is a rather large collection of commented links to botanical websites - even about plants mentionned in the Bible and "magical plants" - but mainly serious taxonomy sites Unfortunately it is not quite up-to-date.

HTH!

Charlotte ▲ Collapse
 


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Botany / reliable resource for botanical names


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