Common Names

Mary Sue Ittner msittner@mcn.org
Sat, 22 Mar 2003 17:59:42 PST
Dear All,

Mark's comment about Rhodies amused me because living in Rhododendron 
country I too have been trying to focus on what we are really talking about 
here. People obviously have a lot of affection for this genus and want to 
give it a nickname.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that a woman called to have me identify 
her yellow flowers. When I tried to tell her they were Narcissus 
bulbocodium she told me she didn't think so because she had Narcissus and 
Daffodils and these were different. I tried to explain they were all 
Narcissus. She was quite pleased when I offered her Hoop Petticoat as a 
name however. She told me she much preferred common names. Today she called 
and left me a message that the owner of the nursery had come to her house 
to look at the flowers and I was wrong. The plants she had were correctly 
called Golden Bells.

Mary Sue


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