Sanseviera trifasciata

This is a Sanseviera trifasciata. Did you read real quick past the Latin? I did too. Most people find the botanical names of plants clunky and hard to remember. You more likely know this plant by the common name, "Snake Plant," or by its most common common name, "Mother-in-law's tongue."

You see why I started with the Latin.

Common names for plants are funny. How does one put a human language to a plant? It means crossing from the world of semantics into the world of nature, into a language of wind in trees, scuttles of ground creatures, bird songs, thunder claps, and silent signals that we are only just beginning to understand. So when people assign common names to plants, it usually says more about the namers than the named.



Take for example this one, Euonymous americana, aka "Hearts-a-bustin'."

Could anyone have named this plant who had never loved? Who had never been so completely filled with joy and love and light that her own heart nearly thumped out of her chest?

There is much in a name. Some cultures believe names to be so powerful that they have two names, one for everyday use and another kept private so that no harm can come to them through it. Names are one of the ways we store and access information in our memories. They conjure up pictures and associations, and help us orient ourselves in our earthly realities.

Is Sanseviera trifasciata called "Mother-in-law's tongue" because it is sharp and sinister-looking with its dark stripes and extremely upright orientation? Has the name persisted because the correlation of plant to name rings true for our culture? I hope not. So we're not going to use that name. Henceforth, in the Spirit Gardens this will be our “Happy Snake Plant.” Maybe even our "Sky-reaching Snake Plant." (This renaming thing could be fun!) We’ll be potting her up soon and tucking her back with the ferns and other shade-loving tropicals in the east end of the garden, in the new bed we prepared yesterday.