Two Bananas vs Tubidanthus

I was walking to work today and I say an Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursi and I thought about the many things I have had to "name" in their proper format over my life. There are other names for this variety of plant life.

You might see it billed as Kinnikinnik.  It is an indigenous plant in Oregon and it is drought resistant. It's a great plant for ground cover and it serves as a cafeteria for birdies and other animals because it bears fruit.  

And then I thought - how many times I have had to learn formal names for things.  You know scientific names. I know my own name, Hyla, is a species of frog.  Tree frog to be exact.

So where do we go from here?

Well - over my life I have had to "posture" to many scientific persons who knew things I didn't.  For example - my former husband, when studying to be a doctor, had to learn the scientific names for birds.  One Saturday afternoon he wooed me to an island off the Los Angeles coast and we had to identify and count birds.  And we had to use their scientific names.  I fell in love with the names actually - perhaps because I had fallen in love with my future and now my former husband.  

They were catchy names like charadriiformes.  For those not in the know - a Charadriiformes is a common sea gull.  But to roll the name over ones tongue is to invite magic and mayhem.

  

And then there was Merganser.  

You can look it up and you find "Common Merganser."  And I beg to differ.  The Merganser is is one of the prettiest ducks on the face of the earth.  Their coloring is second to none.  They are like something painted for royalty.  

I guess my all time favorite with that "game" was Pelicaniformes

They are particularly fun to observe when they are eating.  That large flexible beak can hold an amazing amount of fish. Kind of like a chipmunk with wings.  A creature able to store food for the future for sure.

And why did I name this blog the way I did - well because people are poopy and presumptuous.  I had to learn plant names because I owned a nursery and did landscape design.  The first time I ordered a "Cotton Easter" (say it like it looks) - I was promptly told that the correct pronunciation was cot own eeee aster!  Right - like how would I have known that.  (By the way - Cotoneasters are great plants - most of them being low maintenance and drought resistant not to mention but resistant. So pronounce them or not - plant them and you'll be a happy camper.

I digress - the main focus of this story was a mean person.  I used to own a nursery called The Garden.  It was a splendid-ahead-of-its-time place to buy plants of all kinds.  To get the word out about this wonderful place - I did "plant parties."  These were events much like Tupperwear Parties but with live plants.  At one of the meetings, one of the guests was trying to outdo me.  He asked me what was the difference between a schefflera and a tubidanthus.  Frankly, I had no idea.  But I said, A schefflera is a very pretty fairly low maintenance plant and Two Bananas are what I put on my cereal each morning.  Nasty heckling person was quiet from then on.  

I pays to be punny!