Latin

Hi there!

I have 30 plants names to learn for my foundation degree course and I'm talking about the full latin terms. I would appreciate if anyone has any tips on how I could do this. I'm struggling!

Which plants? Can you give us some examples of the common names on your list.

Anemone!

Do you have pictures of them? Learning the name of a plant you can see will help you, particularly as some of the latin bit may apply to the appearance or a fact about the plant. 

You could do things like looking the name up on Wikipedia. So for anemone, it says "Greek anemone means "daughter of the wind", from ánemos "wind".

That may, or may not, make the name easier to recall. Does the plant look wind-blown. I don't know.

But in that case the common name (anemone) is the same as the 'Latin' name.

We really ought to speak about 'botanical name', because in that case the botanical name comes from Greek, not Latin.

It's possible that Wiki doesn't have the meanings of all plants. But they all will have a meaning. We will know what they are, even if Wiki does not.

Thanks for your advice. I think the visual aid will really help.

They say if you want to remember something, associate it with something similar that you will remember.  Don't know if it works, but good luck with the degree.

There is a reason behind the name for every plant, both for its common name, and its botanical name. Knowing why a plant is called what it is should help. Come back if you get stuck.

Thanks very much. I'll get back to the books!

hi you could try 2 brake the latin name down in2 three parts then say it all 2gether,worked 4 me,let's face it some of the names we can't evan say'so just try 2 brake it down,good luck

Thinking back to my college days, I used to find learning a few at a time off by heart helped, gradually building up a list of memorised names, and testing myself over and over again. Everyone has different ways that work for them. I always found associations and methods like that just confused things, but then I am easily confused! Good luck with the course. I am planning to study horticulture one day but will have to wait until all the offspring are at school!

I find it helps to find out what the latin or greek name means - it will be descriptive of something which is typical of the plant - and that helps me to remember the name.

the  way I use to learn was by writing a diary every day about the flowers or plants I had seen .The common name first then Latin etc.This way you you learn and enjoy the writing about your observations,simple but effective.Ilex Aquifolium.

Thanks so much guys for your help. I did the test on Tuesday and I got 103 out of 105!!! Chuffed to bits! Yeeeeeha! Now I have 30 more to learn.......

Congratulation! The next 30 should be a doddle after that!

Well done

Thanks Kate1123 and BUsy-Lizzie!