What’s in a Name

Taxonomic mixups and surname tribulations

Reading through my grandfather’s correspondence, there’s no shortage of letters regarding debated taxonomical names, misspellings, and misidentification. It seems horticulturalists frequently wrote to him in an effort to gain clarity on issues of nomenclature.

One such letter concerns the Chinese Elm, which L. H. Bailey of New York noticed presented differently in trade publications than its description in scientific literature. He noted that Ulmus pumila and Ulmus parvifolia are both referred to as Chinese Elm in various trade materials, but he wondered if one or the other truly matched what nurserymen were growing and labeling as such.

In my grandfather’s reply, he lent some expertise in an attempt to clear up the confusion but affirmed that in regards to the Arboretum’s elms, there was some remaining uncertainty:

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But it’s not only tree species with name confusion! Interestingly enough, I’ve come across a non-insignificant number of letters with creative spellings of my grandfather’s last name, Kammerer. Growing up with the same last name, I’m no stranger to the difficulty it seems to give people in both spelling and pronunciation. My grandfather noticed the same, writing in a letter to a Mr. Richard Kagerer regarding recently sown Pyracantha coccinea Lalandi:

Surely from this quantity of seed we should get a sufficient number of seedlings worthy of the varietal name “Kagereri” (this sounds much better than “Kammererii"--which I’m sure would discourage all students in plant identification courses).

In searching for such a varietal, I was unable to find anything with the corresponding name; it seems they unfortunately did not succeed in their efforts.

Photo of Scarlet Firethorn by vadszeder on Unsplash

In another letter, from the Pfund Bell Nursery Company in Elmhurst, the writer addressed his inquiry to a Mr. Camera, which is one of the more baffling attempts at our last name but interestingly, not unheard of for me! Growing up, I’d get the occasional phone call from an unknown number and upon attempting to sound out Kammerer, the caller (usually a telemarketer) would land on ‘Camera’ instead. This was always a dead giveaway that they were strangers attempting to sell something.

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It seems many of the unclear taxonomic names have been resolved in the decades since my grandfather and his contemporaries were puzzling them out. The advent of genetic testing has allowed scientists to land on more definitive names and relationships between plant and animal species, likely leaving fewer uncertainties than there were many decades ago. But reading about the naming mysteries my grandfather and his colleagues encountered in their time without such technology is interesting nonetheless!

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