Understanding Houseplant Names (Latin, Genus and Species Made Simple)

By Tom Knight

What's in a Name?

Most plant names look like someone fell asleep on a keyboard.

Dracaena marginata. Epipremnum aureum. Monstera deliciosa.

You don’t need to memorise Latin names to enjoy houseplants. But understanding how they work? That’s a small upgrade that makes everything else, from providing the right care, buying, and troubleshooting houseplants, a whole lot easier.

This guide explains how plant names work, including Latin names, genus, and species (without the botany degree).

Quick Takeaway

Theophrastus and Carl Linnaeus - A quick History Lesson

Over 2,000 years ago the philosopher Theophrastus, often called the "Father of Botany" (or Theo to his friends) was the first person to study plants as a science rather than just food. He began categorizing plants by their structure and growth habits, moving us away from "Can I eat this?" toward "How does this grow?".

Before modern photography, botanical sketches were the primary way to share the wonders of the plant world.

Theophrastus drew many plants and gave them names with detailed descriptions. These illustrations allowed people to identify species even if they couldn't access written texts. His work was some of the most important contributions to botanical science at the time, but it was only an early attempt of what was to come.

Fast forward to the 1700s. If Theophrastus laid the basic stepping stones over the murky river of plant identification, Carl Linnaeus built the epic suspension bridge across.

The Portrait of Carl Linnaeus

With respect to Theophrastus, his naming choices were odd and sometimes confusing, Carl Linnaeus solved the naming chaos and created a system that is still very much used today. Before him, identifying a plant required reciting a long, clunky Latin description. He simplified this into the two-part "Genus and Species" system (like Monstera deliciosa) that gave every plant a universal "first and last name".

The Only Bits You Really Have to Understand

Let’s use a real example and to demonstrate this simply I'm going to use one group of plants throughout this entire article in this case Dracaena marginata (Madagascar Dragon Tree).

Dracaena marginata - Madagascar Dragon Tree

Think of it like a persons name:

Except unlike a normal person's name, where the order normally goes First Name then Surname, it's flipped around. So instead of saying "John Smith", you get:

Once you get this, everything else becomes much easier.

The Latin, Scientific or Botanical Name for Madagascar Dragon Tree is "Dracaena marginata".

Unlike people however, only one plant in the entire world can have this name which means it is truly unique.

One last thing one the Latin name has been used in a book, or on a website like this, the correct way to continue writing the latin name is to abbreviate the genus to its first letter, full stop and then the species all in lowercase. i.e. Dracaena marginata becomes D. marginata.

We won't do this here, but this may be helpful in understanding why plant names are sometimes written like this, especially in more formal texts.

Genus or "Surname"

The Genus groups together closely related plants. So anything starting with:

… will share similar traits and care needs. That’s why once you’ve grown one as a houseplant, you can often handle others in the same group.

Lots of different Dracaena plants that are all grown as houseplants.

Species or "First Name"

The Species tells you exactly which plant you’re dealing with. So here are four popular Dracaena houseplants:

Same Genus. Different plants.

This is where the differences in, size, shape and growth habit start to show up. In the example above, Marginata, Fragrans, Trifasciata, and Sanderiana are the Species or "Frist Name" of these plants.

There are many species within the Dracaena genus. So to tell them apart we use the "Species" naming, which is like a persons First or Christian name.

Variety vs Cultivar

Although all plants are unique, there are times when they are very similar genetically or visually, too similar to have their own individual species name.

This is where most guides overcomplicate things. So here’s the short version:

If parts of the name is in quotes or sounds "non-Latin", it’s usually a cultivar. Whereas a true natural Variety will almost always be in Latin.

Family

Above Genus is Family. This groups broader plant types together. You don’t need to memorise this, but it explains why some plants feel vaguely related.

Example: Dracaena, Sansevieria, Chlorophytum all sit in the Asparagaceae family.

The Dracaena Genus is part of the Asparagaceae Family. Which includes Chlorophytum (Spider Plant), Sansevieria (Mother-In-Law's-Tongue) and the Yucca.

Think of it like being at a family reunion. You might only slightly resemble your distant cousins compared to your siblings, but look closely enough and you’ll find the shared genes that link you all together as a Family.

Take the Asparagaceae family: it includes the Dracaena, Spider Plant (Chlorophytum), Snake Plant (Sansevieria), and Yucca. While they look different at first glance, they all share family traits that prove they belong to the same lineage.

Common Names

Common names are where things get interesting... and confusing. The Latin is normally completely stripped out, other times the Latin may remain but in a condensed or simpler form.

Usually Common Names are based on:

Chlorophytum comosum is a popular houseplant, but only a handful of owners call it by this name. Which one of the following do you use?

Example: Chlorophytum comosum can be called:

Same plant, five different names. You likely use some of these yourself, but you almost certainly haven't heard them all. That’s why although common names are fun, they're not reliable ways to name plants.

Scientific names fix that. They:

The One Problem With Scientific Names

They’re not 100% fixed. In the past, botanists grouped plants based on physical similarities, like leaf shape or flower structure. But modern DNA sequencing often reveals that those plants aren’t actually closely related.

When scientists discover that a plant’s "family tree" is different than previously thought, they move it to a new genus to ensure its name accurately reflects its true evolutionary history. It’s essentially a biological "correction" based on the most up-to-date evidence.

Examples of some shifts within the last 30 years:

It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it causes confusion. If a Genus has been used by many people for a period of time, then for it to suddenly be changed can take a long time for it to become common place, meaning both the old and new genus are used.

From that list above, the most popular plant with this issue is the Snake Plant. Since 2017 it now belongs in the Dracaena Genus, but 10 years later a large number of people will still think of it as Sansevieria.

Summary

And that is pretty much it. Plant names look complicated, but the core idea is simple and that's why Linnaeus' naming plants methods are still used hundreds of years after he invented them.

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