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Many plant names are offensive: botanists will vote on whether to change them (www.nature.com)
submitted 2 years ago by [M] to c/botany@mander.xyz
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[–] 2 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

They go on and on about a slur "affra" that I've literally never heard used. But it's supposedly "super common". Like, aren't there literally plants called "removed heads"?

From inaturalist.org: "Enneapogon nigricans, known by the common names blackheads,[1] bottle washers, pappus grass,[1] purpletop grass,[1] and removedheads,[3] is a perennial Australian grass."

It feels like the article is doing a lot of reaching when more obvious examples are RIGHT THERE.

Instead it's going "well this person was bad so this discovery doesn't count anymore even though it's the standard we applied to everything else".

It's pointless nitpicking and virtue signalling. Naming a plant after something doesn't suddenly make everyone who encounters it racist. It makes you racist if that's your first thought instead of "well that's a stupid name but it's just a name".

Edit: Lemmy edited out the n-word, even when used in a scientific name. Funny that affra stayed...

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    But really, who is hurt by changing the name of a plant from a racial slur to something else? Why are you upset?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    For the same reason most people who oppose this do: it will create multiple names for plants and sow confusion. Imagine trying to look up research papers. You won't be just searching for the new name, you'll be searching for the new name and every single name it was ever called to find all relevant research. You'll literally still be dealing with it every time.

    It's come up a few times with insects. Name changes and suddenly research papers get missed/ignored because they still used the old name and vice versa.

    And frankly, it's a name. It's just a word we attached to something to identify it. If that makes you emotional, maybe don't be in science?

    The words have negative meanings because we acknowledge the meaning. Most people don't know "affra" is a slur and never would have even considered it until someone else loudly goes "hey! That sucks!". If you just ignored it, it literally wouldn't exist. It's going out of its way to point out something most people never even consider.

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