Q. I notice you sometimes include scientific names of animals in your columns. One time you identified a timber rattlesnake; another time, two turtles (an Alabama redbelly turtle and a stinkpot).

Last month, I wrote about the common names of birds, and the planned changes to some of those names. In the past, I’ve written about the folk names of birds. But there are also the scientific names of ...

A black-capped chickadee by any other name is a Poecile atricapillus. That’s the bird’s scientific name, the reference used worldwide to avoid the confusion a list of local names could offer. For ...

When strolling through a garden center or flipping through a plant catalog, you’ll often notice two distinct names on each tag: a common name and a botanical name. While the common name feels friendly ...

Aviva, Chris, and Martin explain what a scientific name is used for in the creature world. Martin, Chris and the gang are creature adventuring in the jungle. They come across Shadow and his mom. Aviva ...

Passiflora incarnata, Nymphaea odorata, Chamaecrista fasciculata, Asclepius incarnata! Sounds like spells from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, doesn’t it? While these words could come ...

Support local journalism: Find offers for new subscribers here: Special Offers — FLORIDA TODAY. Typically, when we are asked questions about plants, the person asking may only know its common name, ...

Q. I notice you sometimes include scientific names of animals in your columns. One time you identified a timber rattlesnake; another time, two turtles (an Alabama redbelly turtle and a stinkpot).

Scientific name of bee is Apis mellifera (Western Honey Bee), part of the Apidae family. Bees are crucial pollinators, adding $18 billion to US agriculture annually. There are over 20,000 species; key ...