Yes, I would correct the poster - not out of rudeness, but in order to clarify exactly what is being discussed. This is especially important to newbie gardeners.

For example, Hibiscus moschetos is a perennial, Rose of Sharon is a shrub and care is much different for each. If it is not clarified exactly which is being discussed, mistakes can be made by those not familiar with the difference between the two or by those who just weren't clear what was being discussed.

Geranium is another example - annual vs. perennial geraniums. We *assume* because this is a perennial board the poster is referring to perennial geranium, but I saw a post very recently when the poster was, in fact, referring to the annual geranium.

There are lots of other examples of the name problem, so I feel it is best to clarify exactly what is being discussed, and that sometimes means gently correcting the poster.

Althaea is a genus of 6-12 species of perennial herbs, including the marshmallow plant Alcea thus correct
in identification of said plant.

Blueangel

So....I answer your question regarding replying to another poster, then you feel it necessary to correct me? Uh....makes me wonder if you posted because you're concerned about social graces on a board or whether you felt wronged on another forum and wanted to pick a fight....

Whether it is correct or not, Rose of Sharon is *commonly* refered to as Hibiscus; it happens frequently on this forum. Hence, I would correct the poster if said poster mistook a post that was referring to H. moschetos as Rose of Sharon or vice versa, as I posted above.

Alcea ia actually the botanical name for certain plants belonging to the Malvaceae, i.e. hollyhocks, Alcea rosea - to my knowledge it is NOT a common name. Althea is however a common name applied to Hibiscus syriacus, aka rose of Sharon.

As noted, there is a great deal of variety in common names, depending on location/regionality and not every plant has a common name. Personally, I would take exception to anyone who attempted to correct a common name - since they are neither 'right' or 'wrong' but just an accepted usage, there is no such thing as a "correct" common name. The only technically correct plant name is the botanical binomial and even that is sometimes a topic of discussion. If you want to call hibiscus "alcea" you are certainly entitled to do so although others may be a bit confused by your reference :-))

Hibiscus syriacus is commonly known as rose of Sharon, althea, shrub althea and hardy hibiscus.

mxk3 I was not trying to correct you merley
pointing out that athea and alcea as gardengal48
has pointed out are of the same family,I know rose of sharon is Hibiscus syriacus but the photo was of a
rose of sharon which I posted it was (alcea rose of sharon)
I was then told the correct name was Althea.
My question which you answered and I thank you for that
was becuase I know this plant as Alcea dose that make it wrong.
gardengal48 thank you also for your post and answer.

(I ask the question if a common name is used
do we correct that poster for useing that name
if that plant is known by that name in that region. ).
again and I understand your point here mxk3
(do we correct that poster for useing that name
if that plant is known by that name in that region).

Blueangel

I am not looking for a fight
DNA testing and genics has just reclassified the plant kingdom
(rose is now in the same family as squash(dna)

Alcea is a genus to which what we commonly call holly hocks belong..I believe Linneaus also called it Althaea.
Hybiscus is a different genus which includes what we call "rose of Sharon"h.syracus as well as H rosa-sinensis.
Alcea is not what I know as rose of Sharon...Alcea are the mallow plants,medicinal in nature.
More confusion comes from the use of common names than about any other thing.
Someone once sent me seeds of "rose champion"...and I ordered "snow on the mountain" once and got aegopodium instead of the euphorbia I wanted....that taught me.
If what you know the plant as is not the correct botanical name, genus, species and cultivar, then you were wrong.
I offer as examples things like "lady's garter" "Love in a mist", Love lies bleeding" "Moss rose" and "rose moss".
Alcea is not rose of sharon as I know it.
Linda C

Just to add to this is my internet search
A. officinalis (marshmallow)
Common names:
marshmallow
white-mallow
guimauve officinale
guimauve sauvage
Eibisch
malvavisco
Althaea cannabina L.Common name hemp leaf mallow
Althaea which also includes, inter alia, Abutilon, Alcea, Gossypium, Hibiscus, Malva and Sidalcea, and is particularly close to Alcea and Kitaibelia.

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Genus: Althaea

Species of Althea
Althaea armeniaca
Althaea broussonetiifolia
Althaea cannabina Hemp-leaved Marshmallow
Althaea hirsuta - Hairy Marshmallow
Althaea longifolia
Althaea ludwigii
Althaea narbonensis
Althaea officinalis Marshmallow

Hibiscus syriacus (Mugunghwa or "Rose of Sharon")
Hibiscus syriacus (syn. Althaea frutex Hort. ex Mill.) the common garden Hibiscus, is called Rose of Sharon in North America, a name also applied to other plants
Variants
Hibiscus syriacus 'Aphrodite'
Hibiscus syriacus 'Ardens'
Hibiscus syriacus 'Bluebird'
Hibiscus syriacus 'Diana'
Hibiscus syriacus 'Minerva'
Hibiscus syriacus 'Red Heart'
so I can only find the referance
Hibiscus syriacus (syn. Althaea frutex Hort. ex Mill.) .
Now what Boys and Girls

Blueangel

Now what? Well, my thought is noone's feet are being held to the fire by adherents of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

It's true, correct is correct, but a naming error is hardly the end of the world on a forum. If someone can get their message/query across to the point where someone can provide an answer, maybe the helpful answer could contain both a common or regional or what I've always known them as along with the Latin name in parenthesis. This provides good information and doesn't smack as a correction.

That's not what my book says.....

Thank you for your reply duluthinbloomz4
lindac what book do you have.
I have not found any relation
Hibiscus syriacus as alcea or as althea
same family but no were is there
althea as hibiscus syriacus.
so alcea and althea would in my mind
and research be correct and wrong at the
same time being niether are hibiscus syriacus.
but are both in the family.
Blueangel

Okay - what exactly is the point of this post?

a. discuss posting etiquetts (re: correcting a poster)

b. nomenclature

I interpreted the original question as being about posting etiquette...if it's really about nomenclature, what's the point of beating it death to if there is no clear answer regarding this particular plant?

i think the issue is usage of regional common names ....

this is the WORLD WIDE WEB ...

if you want to communicate with peeps around the world .... you have to learn the latin .. and use the correct latin ... or else .. frankly ... you will drive each insane discussing a mutlitude of different plants...

think about spider plants... the house plant???? or cleome?????

and of course.. i am blanking on any other example ....

oh .. grandma called them plantains... mom called them august lily .... but we call them hosta .... plantains are weeds .... lily are lily ... hosta are hosta ... all are in the greater family of lilacea .. or however you spell it ...

but we cant have one person giving us info on weed control .... one talking about easter lily and one talking about hosta...

nomenclature is very important when we try to discuss things around the globe ...

i guess if you dont want to learn such .. then you should find a regional forum ... and limit yourself to talking to peeps that are in your region ... which might severely limit your quest for knowledge .... and the search for knowledge should include the ability to be informed of the proper name of what is being discussed ....

ken

blueangel, please give some links that discuss the fact that Rosaceae has been combined with Cucurbitaceae. I find that statement most interesting.

rhizo-1
I am glad that you are as interested as I
I saw a show on Nova that delt indept with
this and the restructure of the plant kingdom
dna and genic research
here also are some sites that speak on this subject

[PDF] DNA
274k - Adobe PDF - View as HTML
mirrored in the HKY85 genetic divergences for ITS and ETS. among clades (Table 3) ... Amelanchier agamic complex (Rosaceae). Molecular Biology and Evolution 14: ...
www.amjbot.org/cgi/reprint/93/3/470.pdf

[PDF] Evolutionary relationships among self-incompatibility RNases
350k - Adobe PDF - View as HTML
familiesÂthe Solanaceae, Scrophulariaceae, and Rosaceae ... DNA sequence information, and applies recent methods of ... (Cucurbitaceae), are expressed in seeds ...
www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/98/23/13167.pdf
if you go to nova tv.com you could
look up the shows

Thanks for posting as I find genic and dna research
very fascinating.

Blueangel

rhizo_1
this is interesting
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/programs/3405_flower.html
describes the original method used to organize the plant family tree by comparing features of plants and explains how plant DNA analysis has rewritten that record.
wwwtc.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/activities/pdf/3405_flower.pdf

The old family tree was now in for a major pruning. Roses were found to be closely related to squash, strawberries to marijuana,
this one is a must read scroll down to DOUG SOLTIS (Molecular Botanist, University of Florida)near the bottom of the page
very interesting.
Blueangel

I read the articles, and understood that both rosaceae and curcubiteae are dicotalegenous and are related that way, and that both are self incompatable.
I suggest that perhaps your confusion on althea and alcea is due to a misunderstood spoken word. Althea and alcea sound very much alike, but both refer to a different genus of plants....although the blooms of both look similar.
Hypericum is a dufferent genus altogether.
For ease of conversation, plants are best referred to by genus and species.
Plants are classified by kingdom, division,class, order,family, genus and species.
Linda C

I strive to learn the botanical name of the plants growing in the yard and gardens, at the very least. Some plants have numerous common names and it can be confusing what people are talking about. I like to grow more than one species in my favorite genuses (genera?) and it is necessary to be species specific because they can have varying cultural requirements. I am also very interested in native plants and this requires identifying plants accurately.

One nice thing about learning botanical names is that you can peruse foreign gardening websites, and even if you don't know the language you can recognize the plant name.

Thank you Linda C
yes they are differant
Ken I do know the classifacation
botanical latin and any other form of the plant name.

Blueangel

A very good reason for people to refer to Latin names rather than common unless we already agree we know which/what we are talking about.

And for my copper pennies - all Alcea/Rose of Sharon should be composted - loathe the things.

I prefer Latin binomial nomenclature because some plants do share identical common names (Hypericum/Alcea is just one example--wildflowers can be an absolute nightmare!).

I also prefer Latin binomial nomenclature because at my last job my coworkers were Chinese, Korean, Bulgarian, Russian, Irish, English, Brazilian, Belgian, German, Danish, Hungarian, Polish, Mexican, Indian and American. Some of us shared a love of gardening, and there is NO WAY we could have communicated easily without resorting to the Latin names for plants. (Working in the sciences is like that--you end up polyglot whether you planned it or not :-) )

As for the *latest* taxonomic assignment (Alcea/Althaea, Chrysanthemum/Leucanthemum/Whateveramum...), I don't worry about that. If I know more than one name for a given plant, I'll give all the names I know, with the one I know best followed by "syn. xxxxxx" for any others. Some plants seem to change taxa more often than I change socks, and I understand why that happens. It depends on what genetic region or regions the taxonomists have chosen for comparison.

As for correct pronunciation: forget it! I like what Allan Armitage says about getting all the syllables in the correct order, and just letting fly. There is NO correct pronunciation for Latin (its native speakers all being dead for at least 1000 years), and the correct pronunciation varies from country to country and speaker to speaker. Perhaps the best example of that is "Pinus", (pine trees), which we Americans pronounce "PIE-ness". I'll leave it to those of you with salacious imaginations to think of how Germans and speakers of Slavic languages might pronounce "Pinus"....

Lisa

LOL ljrmiller! Guess I have a salacious imagination! :)

I attempt a reasonable pronunciation of most of the scientific names - some websites have audio help, so that makes it a little easier. I consider it an accomplishment if I've learned the correct spelling though!

Below is a link to Fine Gardening Pronunciation, which has some plants -

Here is a link that might be useful: Pronunciation Guide for Plants