Scientific Names of Heritage Birches

Taxonomy

• Botanical classification, called taxonomy, categorizes plants into groups that have similar characteristics. A plant’s scientific family designation is commonly its taxonomic starting point, even though it is preceded by other categories. Binomial nomenclature is the shorthand system of naming plants, which includes the two primary names from a plant’s complete scientific name -- its genus and species. Because Latin was the universal language of scientists, regardless of their native country, early taxonomists Latinized plant scientific names, a practice still in use today.

Family

• Family plant names end in -aceae, such as Betulaceae, which includes Heritage birch. Comparatively, Betulaceae is a small plant family of which all of its members are trees or shrubs. Most members grow in North American temperate regions, although some extend into South America. Heritage birch grows in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 9. All Betulaceae plants are monoecious, which means that male and female flowers appear on the same plant. The male flowers of Heritage birch are produced in brown, pendulous catkins, and the greenish female blooms are held upright.

Genus and Species

• Genera (plural of genus) are groups that have more in common with each other than with other genera in the same family. In the Betulaceae family, there are five genera, one of which is Betula -- Heritage birch’s genus. Species are subgroups that share common traits with other species in a genus, but which have variations that give them unique qualities. The species nigra designates Heritage birch as a river birch, which is its common name. As its common name implies, Heritage birch grows naturally along rivers, creeks and stream banks, where its roots can tolerate “wet feet,” or being submerged in water for extended periods without rotting.

Cultivar and Trademark

• Fine-tuning a plant’s identification by its scientific name are the designations of cultivar and trademark. Cultivar means “cultivated variety,” which is a plant cultivated from a wild variety that retains its consistently unique qualities through successive generations. A trademarked plant carries legal protection so its name cannot be duplicated and used for another plant. Heritage birch’s cultivar name is “Cully,” a nod to its founder, Earl Cully, and its trademarked name is Heritage.