Botanical Accuracy: Are there cattails among the nymphs in the waterlilies?

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Are there cattails among the nymphs in the waterlilies?

Sometimes you run into botanical mistakes that just makes no sense. Mistakes that are so strange, that you wonder not just want the author was thinking, but really, HOW did they get this wrong... A reader of this blog (RO) sent me this example of such a preposterous mistake:

On Virginia Tech's online Weed Identification Guide, when you search for cattails, you find this:

Screenshot from Virginia Tech Weed Identification guide by BotanicalAccuracy.com.

A nice page with a species description, but... the genus is wrong. Cattail belongs to Typha (in the family Typhaceae, they have their own little family). Here is a typical cattail in fruit:

A pair of cattail 'cigars' which contain the developing fruits.
Photo by Amadej Trnkoczy on Flickr, Creative Commons.

Instead of Typha, the listed genus name is Nympha, which not only is a non-existent genus name, but probably was meant to be Nymphaea, the waterlily genus. Sure, water lilies often grow very close to cattails in the edges of lakes or ditches, but they are completely different plants. Compare here:

A great pair of Nymphaea, water lilies. Photo by Vilseskogen on Flickr, Creative Commons.

Nymphaea is of course named after the Greek nymphs, while Typha also comes from a greek word 'typhos', which is the ancient name for this plant. Apparently cattails have long been associated with mythological creatures such as serpents and dragons.

The same information and mistake is showing up in University of Missouri's Weed ID iphone app, and they must have some kind of collaboration with the originators of Virginia Tech's Weed data.

My main issue here is that universities that put out online (or printed) botanical tools for the general public need to get at least the basic science correct. People use these tools, which is great, but they will (and should) assume that the information is accurate, especially if if it is provided by a research and teaching university.

(Thanks to RO for sending me the link to the botanically inaccurate page.)

What is Botanical Accuracy?

Would you care if someone called a cat 'a mouse' in the description of a medieval painting?

Would you care if someone served you horse meat, but said it was beef? I bet you would.

Would you care if the wrong chemical was listed in the ingredient list of your shampoo or cereal?

Would you care if you bought one plant, but got another?

Would you care if there were species or ingredient mistakes in advertising, menus, herbal pills, and such things?

Would you care if books on plants are illustrated with the wrong plants?

If so, here is the place for you to read about such problems in the world of plants and plant products, where unfortunately such mistakes, inaccuracies, and problems are not uncommon. This is usually due to lack of botanical knowledge or expertise, or sometimes because of plain ignorance.

Inaccuracies are common when it comes to plants, because it seems like we humans care to learn less about green things like trees, flowers, and herbs than we care to learn about animals, even when we eat plants, paint them, plant them, extract their chemicals, or use them in numerous other ways.

Without plants in the world you and I certainly would be dead. Some plants can also kill you with their toxins, so it is best to know which plant is what species. Time to learn some botany!

About mistakes, inaccuracies, and errors

Science is a process of gaining knowledge and understanding of the world around us. It is a never-ending process, and what we think are true facts today might change tomorrow. In science we are aiming for having the best understanding possible today based on what we and our predecessors have learned until now.

This means that what is botanically accurate from a scientific viewpoint might (and will) change. Other experts in the field of botany know a lot more about their particular research plants than I do. New scientific findings and conclusions are being published every day. This is just normal and part of the scientific process; we improve on our knowledge all the time.

The important thing is our willingness to continuously aim for botanical accuracy and the highest scientific standards in our use of names and facts. When things are wrong, let's correct them. Let us not perpetuate wrong botanical knowledge by accepting its incorrect use on commercial products, in everyday language, or in other parts of our contemporary cultures. Through scientific education and specific corrections we will improve botany and science for everybody, in supermarkets, restaurants, and garden centers.

It is the perpetuation of incorrect facts that are the problem, not the need for correction. Everybody makes mistakes, and everybody learns, throughout their lives. We need words to be able to communicate and talk about things, so let's use the right words and the right species names.

Undoubtedly there will be mistakes and errors on this blog, or things that need to be updated. If you want to get in touch, please e-mail me at botanicalaccuracy at gmail.com. If you see a mistake on this blog, e-mail me with the link to the post and an explanation what is incorrect and should be updated. If you represent a company and want to get in touch, please use the same e-mail address.