August 1, 2026

Roots of renaming

Before the 17th century, naming species was chaotic. The scientific name for kamatis or tomato? Solanum caule inermi herbaceo, foliis pinnatis incisis. It meant “the herbaceous nightshade with a smooth stem which has incised pinnate leaves and a simple raceme.” Scientific names at this time included a short description of the plant, which you can imagine was quite lengthy.

Back then Latin was the language used in scientific work. Thanks in part to the Roman Catholic Church establishing many institutions of higher learning while at the same time instituting Latin as the lingua franca. Hence a long period and tradition of using Latin for scientific names.

Bear in mind however that the effort to name, describe, and classify species goes further back in time, and outside of Europe (fig. 1). In 3000 BC, a Chinese Emperor named Shen Nung published one of the earliest Chinese books on medicine, “Shen-nung pen ts’ao ching” which included over 300 medicines derived from minerals, plants, and animals.

By 1500 BC, Egyptians were naming and illustrating plants. Local names included “celery of the hill country” or “celery of the delta”, which helped Egyptian doctors distinguish plant medicines.

Fast forward again to the 17th century, when Europe expanded its reach around the world via empire, including the Philippines. The naming of plants and animals now involved long descriptions in Latin. More and more plants from distant colonies were being sent to Europe, which needed to be described and required new names.

Everything changed by the mid 1700s when a Swedish botanist named Carl Linnaeus simplified scientific names down to two words (a binomial or “trivial name”), rather than many words (a polynomial or “phrase name”).

Roots of plant naming 1 - chinese texts, egyptian texts, linneaus

His name was Carl

Carl Linneaus published many books, two of which are Species plantarum in 1753 and Systema naturae in 1758. These two books laid the foundation for how we name and classify species, also known as modern taxonomy.

Species plantarum was one of the few books in history that attempted to describe the world’s flora in a single work, which at the time were plants mostly known to Europe. This was about 7,000 plants! It was also the first book to apply binomial names consistently for species, as well as providing sources and bibliography for each binomial – making the book such an important resource in the midst of the chaos of species names in 18th century Europe. So important in fact, the books are still the bases for international agreements on scientific naming today. Latin also continues to be used for scientific names because it is no longer spoken by people or is no longer a “living language”. This means that Latin words no longer evolve or change in meaning over time, ensuring that Latin scientific names stay consistent as well.

What Linneaus did was organize the confusion in naming and classifying plants and animals for the world, to make studying and describing species easier.

How names help us help nature

The late and great Filipino botanist Leonard Co once said we cannot protect what we don’t know. A reliable, sharable, and testable record of life on Earth is crucial to conserving it. Linneaus’ work helped pave the way for this to occur by making it easier for scientists to classify and name (and rename) species for the last 300 years, and into the future.

One of the ways scientific names help us in protecting our forests is through laws and policies. The National Integrated Protected Area system or NIPAS (Republic Act 11038) for example, will refer to lists of threatened species as one of the reasons why an area is or should be protected by law. The Wildlife Act (Republic Act 9147) uses threatened species lists to declare critical habitats outside of Protected Areas

Lists of species include DENR Administrative Order 2004-15, IUCN Red List, the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), and others. All of these lists refer to scientific names of species and their respective data and information. In doing so they show how close to extinction a species is. This includes plant and tree species that are integral parts of forest ecosystems.

How names can hurt people

Like most people and books of the past, some of Linnaeus’ thinking and perspectives were wrong too. He classified plants by their reproductive traits, which he called a “sexual system.” Today scientists attempt to classify them by their evolutionary relationships, aka phylogeny.

He also classified people by race. Though he coined the species name for humanity, Homo sapiens, he further divided humans into “varieties” based on skin color and origin.

Europaeus albus: European white – light, wise, and inventive.
Americanus rubescens: American reddish – bad tempered, yet cheerful, free.
Asiaticus fuscus: Asian tawny (orange-brown, or yellow-brown) – stiff, stern, greedy.
Africanus niger: African black – lazy, sly, neglectful.

He published these divisions in the 10th edition of Systema naturae (1758) which were based on moral and intellectual capacities. This basically contributed to the birth of scientific racism, and references toward Chinese people as “yellow”, or black and/or brown people as “lazy”, has its origins in these books.

Issues behind plant names today

Latin has helped preserve intended meanings of scientific names since Latin no longer evolves as a “dead language”. Unfortunately names given to species throughout the years are not without controversy. Issues include politics, offensive words, names of tyrants and oppressors, and the exclusion of indigenous names and knowledge.

A tree that is both medicine, and a curse word

All parts of Dovyalis caffra trees are used as remedies and delicacies in Southern Africa. A Zulu remedy uses its bark for joint or muscle inflamation (rheumatism). In Botswana a traditional pudding is made with its fruit juice. It is known as mukokolo (Shona language), kariaba (Meru language), Kei-apple (Dutch), and many other names throughout Southern Africa.

The species name “caffra” has its roots in the word “kaffir.” It is a word with a long history of usage in Hebrew, Arabic, and among people in Southern Africa. It eventually began to be a derogatory word against black Africans, especially during the 1950’s when racism was institutionalized in South Africa during apartheid. “K*ffir” is equivalent to the word “n*gger” in the United States.

Because of the long history of the name, some binomials include references to the word such as Harpephyllum caffrum (wild plum) and Ximenia caffra (large sourplum). Many of these trees are native to Southern Africa, where “k*ffir” is considered so derogatory it is against the law to use it.

Most studies connect the etymology of “caffrum” and “caffra” to the Hebrew word for “person living on the land” or “kafri”, which is accurate. However contemporary use of “k*ffir” has its roots in the same word.

Names and nationhood for our neighbor in the South Pacific

Long known by its indigenous population as Kanaky, New Caledonia is known for its high plant endemism (75% of its plants are endemic) despite its small area and an economic dependence on nickel mining.

An interesting study was made reviewing the country’s plants named after people, aka eponyms. It found that most of the plant species’ eponyms were named after foreigners (fig 2). Only 7% of these scientific names were inspired by locals. Of the foreign scientific names, 63% were named after French people. This is because New Caledonia-Kanaky had been colonized by France in 1853 under Napoleon III. The study also found that 94% of the names were dedicated to men. Unfortunately this is partly explained by the fact that less than 3% of the world’s plants have been described by women.

On top of this, the local Kanak and Tavu’avua’ people of New Caledonia-Kanaky have the problem of achieving independence from France. It is one of 17 countries on the UN’s list of “non-self-governing territories” which is defined as “territories whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government.” Motions for an independent New Caledonia-Kanaky have long been denied or postponed, as France continues to hold on to the nickel mining income from the country.

Roots of plant naming 2 - New Calcedonia plants named after foreigners

Inday Sara-ae

Hoya plants are known for their beautiful flowers, also known as “wax plants” due to the waxy appearance of their leaves and flowers. The native range of Hoyas includes countries in Southeast Asia to the Pacific, but the Philippines has the richest diversity of Hoya species. They are popular ornamental plants, especially in Europe, the United States, and Australia.

Everyone might agree on the beauty of Hoyas, but politics might also be in the “eye of the beholder.” Some people may agree on a scientific name, while others may consider it offensive. Take for example one particular Hoya plant named after Sara Duterte, vice-president of the Philippines who is undergoing impeachment for misuse of 612.5 million pesos in “confidential funds”, threats against the president, among other issues.

Sources online state that Hoya indaysarae was discovered in 2017 in the Dinagat islands, and was named after then Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio “in honor of her support for nature conservation.” On Philippineplants.org, it is noted as a synonym for another Hoya species, Hoya scortechinii.

Examples of non-plant species

From names of slave owners in the west and politicians in the Philippines, controversies behind plant binomials seem to be just as diverse as the plant kingdom itself. As you can imagine the debate might be no different for species outside the world of plants. These include Anophthalmus hitleri named after Adolf Hitler (a species name that has encouraged over collection of the species by Neo-Nazis), Neopalpa donaldtrumpi named after Donald Trump, whose backing of Israel’s attacks on Gaza, and domestic military force in the US continue to make headlines, and plants like Vosea whitemanensis named after white European men during the colonial period in Papua New Guinea.

Plant names I like

Naming species after people was and is a great way to honor those who have made considerable contributions to science and society as a whole. Here are a few plant species named after Filipino scientists who are deserving of such honors.

Amyema lisae

The genus Amyema includes more than 90 species of beautiful mistletoe flowers found in Samoa, Australia, and throughout Southeast Asia including the Philippines. Amyema lisae is known for its yellow and “felt-like” flowers, unique to the species compared to others in the genus. It is only known from Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park in Negros.

It is named after Lisa J. Paguntalan-Marte, whose field research includes the discovery of new species of hawk owls in Cebu and Camiguin, as well as bringing stakeholders together to help conserve biodiversity. She is Executive Director of the Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Inc. Her extensive background and dedication to conserving Philippine biodiversity makes her a great human being to name a plant after.

Begonia bangsamoro

Begonias are popular ornamental plants long prone to poaching and trade. In the wild they prefer deeply shaded and moist habitats, and are known to be “narrowly endemic” or long restricted to certain places.

Begonia bangsamoro is a species unique to Mindanao, which is distinguished from other Philippine Begonia by its uniquely lacerated or jagged leaf edges. The species name comes from the BARMM region in Mindanao, which stands for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The area is home to the Bangsamoro people whose “historical assertion of self-governance and statehood date back to the middle of 15th-century Sultanates.” The authors of the study add, “With livelihoods and culture intimately intertwined with nature, the Bangsamoro people living within the traditional territory safeguard a number of Key Biodiversity Areas (i.e., Lake Lanao, Mount Piagayungan, and Tawi-Tawi Island). These designated KBA’s in the Bangsamoro region is of global importance to biodiversity conservation of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems.”

Strongylodon juangonzalezii

Many of us members are familiar with jade vines, especially one found on the UP Diliman campus. Jade vines are in the Strongylodon genus, their common name associated with its most well-known species, the green or jade-colored Strongylodon macrobotrys.

In 2015, a group of researchers from the University of the Philippines Los Baños-Museum of Natural History or UPLB-MNH explored the forests of Quezon together with the Mulanay LGU. Over 120 species were found, one of them a unique specimen of Strongylodon. This jade vine wasn’t jade, but lilac to blue, depending on its maturity. The species, Strongylodon juangonzalezii, was then named after the director of UPLB-MNH, Dr. Juan Carlos Tecson Gonzalez or JC. Unlike many of the plants I mention in this write-up, I actually had the opportunity to meet JC at a Wild Bird Club of the Philippines event held in Zamboanga a few years ago. In addition to his dedication to Philippine biodiversity as a researcher and professor, he is also a great human being to know. This makes him another example of someone who should have a plant named after them.

I’m sure many environmentalists have favorite species names. From Medinilla theresae named after Theresa Mundita Lim (the first female executive director of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity) to Pinanga leonardcoi, a new species of palm named after Leonard Co, a brilliant botanist killed while conducting studies in the mountains of Leyte. The latter probably being one of my latest favorite species names, because Pinanga is derived from a Malay word for palm. Along with the fact that it is named after the late Leonard Co, the similar-sounding “pinangga” from the Bisaya for “adored” or “darling” makes me feel like the palm’s binomial is also a phrase of love and respect. Pinangga leonardcoi, our dear Sir Leonard (fig 3).

Roots of plant naming 3 - pinanga leonard coi

Naming and renaming in the future

With a recorded 300,000+ plant species, around 40 times more than the initial scope of Linneaus’ publications in the 18th century, you can imagine the different perspectives on why and how species are named.

Earlier I mentioned Linneaus’ renaming efforts has helped us help nature. 300 years later the question is can it still be further improved? How can the process of naming species moving forward be improved to increase are effectiveness in conserving the world’s plants?

Common names in general have been found to have an interesting effect on people. Carvell et al in 1998 conducted a study where 57 species names were presented to visitors of the London Zoo. They asked visitors to rank animals in the order that they would choose to support their conservation. Common names like “Diana monkey” and “Bali starling” ranked most-likely to be supported, while names with negative connotations like Strawberry poison frog, or black widow spider species, were ranked at the bottom. Perhaps there is a connection between species names, scientific or otherwise, that may affect the perception of them by local communities we involve.

At the 2024 International Botanical Congress in Madrid, botanists passed a landmark motion to remove the species name “caffra” mentioned earlier. To keep things simple, botanists simply dropped a letter or two, changing many of these names to “afra.” The motion was achieved with a 63% vote in support of the change. Sandy Knapp of the Natural History Museum in London presided over the six-day nomenclature session. She mentions in an article that, “This is an absolutely monumental first step in addressing an issue that has become a real problem in botany and also in other biological sciences… It is a very important start.”

Many botanists are also making proposals to update the rules behind naming plants. The International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants or ICN dictates how plants should be named. Under the ICN, article 11.4 states“…The correct name is the combination of the final epithet of the earliest legitimate name…” This clause basically says the oldest scientific name holds priority, but it also includes exceptions like using long established names. Botanists like Gillman et al 2020, propose that further exception include indigenous names that have been used even longer. They add, “Such a legacy could become axiomatic under a new respect for indigenous precedence in nomenclature.” Axiomatic, meaning self-evident, obvious, or unquestionable.

According to the Indigenous Community and Conserved Areas or ICCA Consortium, areas belonging to Indigenous communities in the Philippines or “ancestral domains” hold 29% of the country’s Key Biodiversity Areas or KBAs. About 75% of areas with forest cover are also within ancestral domains. Forest Foundation Philippines says that 90% of the country’s watersheds are in ancestral lands, of which one-fourth of the Philippine population depends on.

Many Indigenous people live in the remaining original forests across the globe, including in the Philippines. Much has yet to be done to help allow them (or return to them) as much control as possible in their ancient domains.

The discussion of naming and/or renaming plants and species is not only a question of respect to indigenous knowledge and communities, but also of inclusivity and accessibility in general – to expand the ownership of science to more and more people.