Whether you call them scientific, botanical or Latin names, in the gardening world these are not mere jargonish terms limited only to specialists or extreme plant nerds. Botanical Latin is the international language of gardeners, from intermediate to advanced, and every budding novice needs to learn them to make the most out of gardening resources and be fully embraced by the garden fold.

This point became clear to me when a respected colleague recently said, "Plant names are so complex they shouldn't be used in garden writing." Admittedly, I am a terrible plant nerd that spends an unsavory amount of time savoring the beauty of unique and beautiful plants and their equally unique and beautiful names, so my gut cried,"Heresy!" But there are also practical reasons why Latin names are essential for gardeners and have a place in all gardening resources. Here are the top five reasons why gardeners love them so:

1. Common names are ineffective in many cases. Even in the same country the same plant can have multiple common names or the same common names can refer to totally different plants. They are just too messy to rely on unless you are talking about super common species like petunias, carrots, cabbage, dahlias, corn or tomatoes and even there it's essential to understand the nuances of different varietal names.

2. Lots of plants just don't have common names, especially those newer in cultivation.

3.  Basic binomial Latin describes biological organisms in a simple, descriptive way. The first name of the binomial, the genus, describes a group of related plants and the second name (technically called the specific epithet) further describes the genus. Together they form the species name. To illustrate their descriptive power, the name Toxicodendron radicans breaks down to poison ("toxico") tree ("dendron") with rooting stems ("radicans") and effectively describes poison ivy; the Latin name for the sweet dragon-like orchid, Dracula bella, translates to "pretty little dragon"; and the Latin name of marigold, Tagetes, is named for Etruscan deity and grandson of Jupiter, Tages, who myth said sprang from the plowed earth.

4. Latin names are international. Whether you're reading botanical text in Arabic, Swahili or Mandarin Chinese a Latin name, like Dahlia pinnata, will look exactly the same.

5. Most names tell an interesting story. Some about history and people and others about the plants themselves.

The chief downside to Latin names is their ephemeral nature. Botanists change them for lots of scientific reasons, which means names need to be checked regularly against reliable botanical sources by those expert in plant taxonomy and nomenclature.

Understanding the pieces of these names helps newbies better use them. The document below is taken from an old Liberty Hyde Bailey text and very clearly describes the basic binomial plant name.