Nutty Nomenclature
All species of organism are given their own specific name by the taxonomist who first describes them. Every now and again the taxonomists allow themselves to have a little bit of fun. This is our guide to some more mischievously named species.
Name: Pinus rigida and Pinus flexilis
Don’t get it? Then you have a distinctly less juvenile sense of humour than me.
What are they? Pine trees. P. rigida is known as the pitch pine and P. flexilis is the limber pine.
Where are they found? North America.
When was it first named? 1768 and 1823 respectively. Linnaeus invented the species naming system in 1753, it's pleasing to know that within fifteen years people were already trying to abuse it. Good work!
Who deserves the credit? The early taxonomers were P. Mill and E. James, sadly only legacy are their species, we know nothing else about them.
))
Is there a picture? Yes, to the right is a picture of a limber pine (click the image to enlarge). Both species are pretty common, however, rather counterinutitively it is Pinus flexilis that is the taller, more vigourous species. Pinus rigida is actually a little... well, limp.Check out some other strange species names here.
More regular features:
Monday: Phunny Phobias
Wednesday: Doctor Doctor
Thursday: Peculiar Periodicals
Friday: End of week timewasters
Share this
