Women, Plants, and the Power of a Name

Naming species is essential to science. A consistent, universal name ensures that researchers around the world are talking about the same organism. The system we use today was developed in the 18th century by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, giving each species a two-part Latin name: the genus, followed by a specific epithet that distinguishes it from its close relatives. For instance, in Passiflora edulis, the scientific name of the passion fruit, Passiflora is the genus, and the epithet, edulis, sets it apart from species like Passiflora alata or Passiflora arborea.

These Latin names are often descriptive, highlighting a plant’s habitat, or unique features. But sometimes, botanists choose to name plants after historical figures or events. Linnaeus, a devout Christian, saw deep religious symbolism in the structure of the passionflower. The floral filaments reminded him of Christ’s crown of thorns, and the tendrils evoked the whips used during the flagellation. That’s why he named the genus Passiflora, after the Passion of Jesus. Linnaeus’s ideas about naming didn’t end with religious references. In his 1737 book Critica Botanica, he proposed that plant names should honour kings, gods, or botanists—who, in the 18th century, were almost exclusively men. Such names honouring a person’s deeds or memory are known as eponyms.

But what about women? In 2021, a tweet by Dr. Carmen Ulloa-Ulloa —Senior Curator at the Missouri Botanical Garden— about the genus Meriania, which honours naturalist and artist Maria Sibylla Merian, led to seemingly simple questions: ‘how many plant genera were actually named after women?’ and ‘who are or were these women’? When no clear answer emerged, Dr. Sabine von Mering and her team of female botanists and historians stepped in. They created a dedicated database of plant genera named for women and began tracking how naming patterns have changed over time. As the authors put it in their recent paper, their goal was to “make available the stories of the many, often unrecognised, women behind flowering plant generic names.”

To answer these questions, the team assembled data from scratch. They began with the Index of Eponymic Plant Names and enriched it with additional literature and archival sources. The result was a dataset of 728 flowering plant genera named after women.While this may seem like a large number, the broader picture is less encouraging: only 6% of all flowering plant genera named after people honour women. And among those 728 women, more than a third are mythical figures—goddesses, nymphs, and legendary characters drawn from folklore.

This trend dominated early botanical naming. In Linnaeus’s seminal 1753 book Species Plantarum, just three genera were named for real women, compared to 33 for mythical ones. It wasn’t until 1932—almost two centuries later—that genera named for real women finally outnumbered those named for mythical figures.

Encouragingly, in recent decades, more plant names now celebrate women who actively contributed to botany—as researchers, collectors, illustrators, and more. The most frequently honoured roles were “botanist” and “botanical collector,” often listed together. But not all dedications are so clear. Some are cryptic, vague, or buried in obscurity. In dozens of cases, the honouree is identified only as someone’s wife or daughter, with no record of her own work.

To uncover their stories, researchers often had to sift through centuries-old publications. That’s why the team linked their findings to Wikidata, an open-access platform that allows anyone to explore these names, trace their histories, and build on the work.

The naming of plants may seem like a technical, old-fashioned detail, but it’s steeped in history. Every scientific name tells a story and, for centuries, those stories overwhelmingly celebrated men and the powerful. There is an ongoing debate over whether naming species after people is the best way to honour contributions, especially given some problematic names in taxonomy. Still, von Mering and her colleagues’ work helps to rewrite and expand the botanical record. 

As more datasets like this are created and linked through platforms like Wikidata, we move from anecdote to evidence. It’s a step toward correcting the historical record—and toward ensuring that recognition in science becomes more inclusive, meaningful, and lasting. These women, once reduced to obscure references or overlooked entirely, can now be recognised as scientists, artists, collectors, and collaborators in their own right.

READ THE ARTICLE:

von Mering, S., Knapp, S., Leachman, S., Lindon, H. L., Gu, Q., Vincent, S., & Ulloa Ulloa, C. (2025). The women honoured in flowering plant genera: From myth to reality. Plants, People, Planet. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.70050.

Erika Alejandra Chaves-Diaz

Erika is a Colombian biologist and ecologist passionate about tropical forests, primates, and science communication. She holds a Master’s degree in Ecology and Wildlife Conservation from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil) and has been part of Ciencia Tropical since 2020—a science communication group that aims to connect people with biodiversity and raise environmental awareness. You can follow her and her team on Instagram at @cienciatropical.

Spanish and Portuguese translation by Erika Alejandra Chaves-Diaz.

Cover picture: Mary Agnes Chase (1869-1963) who specialized in the study of grasses, honoured in the genera Agnesia. Photo from the Smithsonian Institution Archives.