I’ve always felt a bit inadequate about not knowing the Latin names of most wildflowers. I do appreciate that they’re very specific, and I acknowledge that so-called common names can be ambiguous at times. For instance, the plant we call chamisa1 here in New Mexico is called rabbitbrush just about everywhere else in the western US.
I decided to give up my feelings of inadequacy after my friend in California told me about a type of lichen in the redwoods called Fairy Barf. It’s such a delightful name and, as she pointed out, descriptive as well. Now I think: Why use Latin when you can instead imagine you live in an alternate universe?
Enter the wildflower above, which I knew for years simply as clammyweed. It’s another descriptive name; if you touch the leaves or pods, they do indeed feel cold and clammy. More recently I learned that the full name of this flower is red-whiskered clammyweed. Its name immediately stopped sounding functional and utilitarian, and became something filled with whimsy, and even affection, instead.
There was so much clammyweed in the Sandia foothills this summer — it was everywhere. One day I was coming back from a hike when I saw a two-tailed swallowtail2 browsing amongst its blossoms. For some reason, it posed for me for several minutes that morning, and I took photo after photo. I thanked it out loud when it finally flew away.3
Chamisa is also called stinkweed, and with good reason. It smells like a locker room or a pair of overused shoes, or perhaps both put together.
Its name refers to the two tails at the bottom of each hind wing. This particular butterfly is missing one of the tails on its right side.
I thank all wild critters who take the risk of sticking around while I take photos. As a general rule, we humans are not to be trusted by other species.
The common names you mention give pause for reflection - and a deeper examination of the plant. I think about the person who chose the name, who they are, and how creative they surely must be. And then I wonder how the common name came to have broad acceptance. Judith