5 Funny Common Names and Their Origins

Many plants have various common names. They usually vary from place to place. These names can be pretty silly, for example there are Dragon's Blood Trees, Hens and Chicks, and Mother-In-Law’s-Cushion.  A lot of plants get their common names from the way they look. Bleeding heart, for example, looks like a heart with a drop below it. But some plants get their names from what they are traditionally used for. Here are five of those plants with silly names that do what they are named to do. 

Sneezeweed, Helenium autumnale 

Sneezeweed got it's name from the Native Americans and early settlers who used it as snuff. They crushed the flowers and inhaled them to induce sneezing which was thought to rid the body of evil spirits. It was also used medicinally to treat fevers and head colds.

Horny Goat Weed, Epimedium 

Can you guess what Horny Goat Weed is used for? Bow-chicka-wow-wow.. yes. It's used as an herbal supplement for sexual performance problems including erectile dysfunction and to arouse sexual desire. But, according to WebMD, it's also used for "weak back and knees, joint pain, osteoarthritis, mental and physical fatigue, memory loss, high blood pressure, heart disease, bronchitis, liver disease, HIV/AIDS, polio, a blood disorder called chronic leucopenia, viral infections of the heart, bone loss after menopause, weak bones (osteoporosis), and as a tonic". That's quite the plant. 

Soapwort, Saponaria officinalis

Soapwort contains saponins which when boiled in water lather up just like our modern soap which uses phosphates to do that job. It can also be used as a shampoo. Check out this link for liquid soap and shampoo recipes with soapwort. (The -wort part of the name comes from an ancient English term meaning plant.)

Chokecherry, Prunus Virginiana

Many Native American tribes used this plant as a food and medicine. European settlers learned from the natives about the health properties of the plant and began using it to treat coughs and colds. But it had many other medicinal uses as well, such as helping inflammation of the bowel, diarrhea, stomach cramps, cholera, digestive problems, gangrenous wounds, sores, pains, severe burns and wounds.

Spleenwort or Miltwaste, Asplenium ceterach

Spleenwort, also called Miltwaste, got it's name because it was thought to cure disorders of the milt or spleen. The genus, Asplenium, is derived from the Greek word for spleen. This is an old belief based on the doctrine of signatures, that the fern was useful for ailments of the spleen, due to the spleen-shaped sori on the backs of the fronds. 

Scientist Spotlight: George Washington Carver

Earlier this year, I attended Making Brooklyn Bloom at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. I had the pleasure of getting to hear Onika Abraham’s powerful talk. The talk was in the spirit of Sankofa, to memorialize Kristopher Morgan Powell, local Bronx historian who passed away last winter. He was the creator and writer for Bronx River Sankofa. Sankofa is an Akan word used in Ghana that translates to “go back and fetch it”. She explained that this word is from a proverb stating “It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten” which is to represent the importance from learning from the past.

In our first edition of Scientist Spotlight, I'd like to highlight an important scientist from the past whom Ms. Abraham also spoke about in her talk: George Washington Carver.

George Washington Carver 

George Washington Carver was born in 1864 in Missouri. His mother was a slave owned by Susan and Moses Carver. When George was just a baby, his mother was kidnapped by slave raiders. Around this same time that he became an orphan, slavery was abolished with the 13th amendment. The Carver’s raised George and his brother James. As George got older and wanted an education, he had to travel in order to find it because there were no schools for black children where they lived.

He eventually became the first African-American to study at Iowa State Agricultural College in 1891. He combined his love for art and science to study botany. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1894 and a graduate degree in 1896. His bachelor’s thesis was “Plants as Modified by Man”. His graduate studies included in depth work on plant pathology.

George working in his lab.

Carver excelled in his studies and became the first African-American expert in his field. He was contacted by Booker T. Washington to head the agricultural department at the all-black Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Here, Carver conducted agricultural research and also conducted “some of his most significant work–seeking solutions to the burden of debt and poverty that enmeshed landless black farmers.” (1) His goal was to fix the relentless cycle of debt and poverty experienced by black farmers dependent upon sharecropping and cotton.

In the effort to create more economically sustainable lives for poor farmers, Carver pioneered a mobile classroom to bring lessons on better farming practices to the farms.

He “gave demonstrations on such topics as using native clays for paints, increasing soil fertility without commercial fertilizers, and growing alternative crops along with the ubiquitous cotton. To enhance the attractiveness of such crops as cow peas, sweet potatoes, and peanuts, Carver developed a variety of uses for each. Peanuts especially appealed to him as an inexpensive source of protein that did not deplete the soil as much as cotton did”. (1)

Mobile Classroom

As he became more widely known, he used his fame to travel through the South to promote racial equality.Carver later became more famous for his work with peanuts and peanut oil, which became widely used in massage for people with medical issues, such as polio. He was thought to ‘have the cure’ and people from all over sought him out.

During the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, “people from all over the world asked Carver for agricultural advice because he was able to show farmers how to maximize plant production and improve the soil at very little cost”. (2)

George Washington Carver, born into the most unfortunate circumstances, lived a frugal life dedicated to helping improve the lives of others. On his grave was written, He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world.

In the spirit of Sankofa, I think George Washington Carver represents an important part of the past which we should look back and learn from.

A painting by Betsy Graves Reyneau of Carver cross pollinating flowers.

1- http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/george-washington-carver

2- http://shs.umsystem.edu/historicmissourians/name/c/carver/

More info from : 

http://www.biography.com/people/george-washington-carver-9240299#tuskegee-institute

http://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/tuskegee/gwcwagon.htm