Chrysanthemum – Silk Flower Stem of the Day

Chris — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 12:21:55 +0000

I can write about the Chrsyanthemum today knowing that that is actually the name of this genus of flower. 15 years ago, I would have called them Dendranthema, which isn’t a mum, but a ma. So I guess the category on our website would have been ‘Mas’. Maybe not.

This is a spider mum, which would beat an actual spider in a Legs Having contest

The confusion over the Chrysanthemums name arose from a need to reclassify members of the genus. Botanists were using the term Chrysanthemum to describe too broad a group of plants, so several new genera were created (bonus fact: genera is the plural of genus). This included renaming the ‘florists’s chrysanthemum’ or to the Dendranthema. In 1999, a ruling was made by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, naming the defining species chrysanthemum indicum, thereby restoring the florist’s chrysanthemum to it’s place in the Chrysanthemum genus.

I do have one bone to pick with the Spider Mum, which is a really cool looking mum with tendril-like petals. I think it would be much more appropriately named the Octopus Mum, because its petals extend in all directions and orientations, like the tentacles of an octopus floating through the water. This would be easily shortened to Octo Mum, which could have been a great nickname for an exotic looking flower. Unfortunately, due to the exploits of the Octo Mom, that ship has probably sailed, and I guess it’s time to accept the Spider Mum name.

-Chris

Botancia provided details about the naming and renaming of the Chrysanthemum, along with its usual supply of very colorful photos. Botanica can be found opened, somewhere near my desk.
Wikipedia provided an assist with the naming and renaming details. Wikipedia can be found on the internet at www.wikipedia.org.

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Chrysanthemum – Silk Flower Stem of the Day