If you, like many gardeners, have a fascination for plant names and their derivations, but stop short of wanting to study botanical nomenclature in great depth, this book is for you!

Precise naming is essential to be able to identify plants accurately and most gardeners have at least some knowledge of ‘botanical Latin’. But a plant’s full botanical name does much more than give it a unique label. The name can often tell you where the plant originated, who discovered it, what shape it is, and much else besides. What’s more, the name can be used and understood anywhere in the world.

This is a book to have with you at the garden centre, and one to keep beside your bed for an entertaining read. Plant Names Explained is an indispensable guide and makes the subject accessible, enjoyable and fun. It shows not only how plant names work, but also how you can make use of them in entertaining as well as practical ways.

A selective alphabetical listing of botanical names and their explanations is accompanied by features exploring cultivar names, with translations of foreign terms and lists of plants you can link with special occasions and celebrations, or with personal names. Other features highlight the places, people and plant characteristics that lie behind the names: gardens and nurseries, countries and cities, plant hunters and gardeners, colours, characteristics and habitats.

Plant Names Explained is an essential and fascinating guide to the subject. What may at first seem a dry but necessary convention is revealed to be a way of opening up the intriguing world of plants.