Naming Cactus and Succulents ... 1/5

Why name C&S or anything?

Describe me the thing precisely as you will, I can make no use of it without a name .... names are the alphabet of natural knowledge ... Linnaeus

When talking about something, people need to agree on what they are discussing, whether it be a plant, an animal or an inanimate object like a "chair". That's one reason we name things.

How do you identify people?

I'm off to lunch with the "The young lady who lives in Main St. who works at the deli!"
So it was with plants before a guy called Carl Linnaeus came along with his botanical naming system ... so before Linnaeus your plant was called "the large cactus that grows in Arizona" or some similar long worded descriptive name.

But what if there are two young ladies who live in Main St., who work at the deli?
Just as there ARE more than two large growing cactus in Arizona. Sure we could further describe it as the "large cactus that grows in Arizona that branches from the base like an organ pipe" but taking this concept further eventually results in large unwieldy names for plants.

So now, how about identifying the person above as "Lucy Jones" ... doesn't that define that person uniquely (assuming there is only one "Lucy Jones").
In the same way you called the plant above "Stenocereus thurberi" and everybody (who knows cactus) would know exactly what plant you were talking about, and unlike people there can't be two identical botanical names for different plant species.

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