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In this book, all plants are listed by common name and scientific (botanical) name. One disadvantage of relying on the common name is that it’s not the most accurate way to find the plant you want. This is because many plants are known by more than one common name and because some vastly different plants share a common name.

To ensure accurate identifications, botanists have adopted a world standard for names. They’ve assigned plants to family trees based mainly on similarities of their reproductive structures. The scientific names are rendered primarily in Latin. So if you know a plant’s scientific name, it’s easier to obtain the plant you want.

This book employs the scientific names used by the Royal Horticultural Society’s Index of Garden Plants, as well as older scientific names that are still widely used in houseplant catalogs. When the scientific name has changed, you’ll find both the new and old names listed, with one of them noted in parentheses and an “aka,” short for “also known as.”

When a houseplant has no common name, the scientific name is coined as the common name, such as in guzmania.

Family. In this book, the family is the largest grouping of plants sharing common characteristics. The scientific family name is written with an initial capital letter, as in Begoniaceae, and is not italicized.

Genus. Normally, the next smaller grouping of plants within a family is the genus, which is written with an initial capital letter and is italicized; the plural for genus is genera. The genus name is usually the first word of a plant’s scientific name, as in Guzmania lingulata.

Species. The second word in the name indicates species, which is a group of related plants that are alike except for small variations. The species name is italicized.

Variety vs. Cultivar. Scientists take nomenclature further by assigning a name if the plant is a variety (a variant of a species that occurs as a result of natural mutation) or a cultivar (meaning a cultivated variety, resulting from human intervention).

The terms variety and cultivar are commonly used interchangeably, even though there is a technical difference. A cultivar will be listed with single quotes. When a cultivar is used as part of the common name, as in the example Camille dumb cane, below, single quotes aren’t usually used.

Hybrid. A hybrid is a plant that results from the breeding of two genetically different parents. Often written with an ×, a hybrid may differ in significant ways from its parents and even from its siblings. A hybrid is listed like this: Begonia × hiemalis.

Principles of plant naming are illustrated in the name Camille dumb cane (Dieffenbachia picta ‘Camille’).