From Seed to Seed:
Plant Science for K-8 Educators

Conventional Nomenclature: How to Write Botanical Names

All over the world, the same scientific name is used to identify a particular plant. And there are specific rules regarding how botanical names should be written. Following are some guidelines. (There are, of course, a few rare cases where these rules don't apply.)

When writing a botanical name, the genus name is capitalized, the species is not, and both of these words are set in italics (or underlined):

Rosemary: Rosmarinus officinalis

Oregano: Origanum vulgare

Sweet marjoram: Origanum majorana

When listing several species within the same genus, you can write the entire genus name once, then abbreviate it with the first letter followed by a period for the rest of the list. For example, if you are listing a group of junipers you could write Juniperus communis, J. horizontalis, and J. virginiana to denote common juniper, creeping juniper, and Eastern red cedar.

Students will find that remembering how to spell botanical names can be a challenge, but will quickly learn just how important it is if they want to research a specific plant. Even more challenging is how to pronounce them! There are some customary pronunciations-but even these can vary among regions. Since Latin is a "dead" language that is still written but no longer spoken, one could argue that there is no "right" way to pronounce names. And besides, even seasoned horticulturists get stumped with unusual names. Remember, you can always spell out a name to avoid confusion.