What's in a Word?

 What's in a Word?

The English language is infinitely rich, containing words derived from many other countries in the course of our history, and new ones are being added all the time. I was saddened to see calls on the social media recently, to simplify our spelling, bringing it into line with the argot used on smart phones and text messages. At a stroke, our language would be over-simplified and infantilized, and the subtleties lost. I hope this idea doesn’t catch on.

Consider the slightly different meanings of ‘different’, ‘variety’, ‘variability’......

This train of thought was triggered the other day when looking at a planting of Beech trees by the Duchy College in nearby Stoke Climsland.  About 30 years ago a row of Beech saplings was put in. The young trees were all more or less the same age and growing in the same area under the same conditions apparently. Now established trees, it was noticeable that almost all of the 187 I counted were still looking wintry, with leaf buds still tight. But two or three were just beginning to unfurl and five or six were in full young leaf. In this case ‘different’ would infer some of them had a ‘different’ behaviour but they were all the same species of tree. I think ‘variable’ fits the bill in this case too. I would reserve the word ‘variety’ unless I could establish that each tree’s behaviour was consistent in every year.      

 

One of a very small minority of the planting of Beech trees with unfurled leaves, well ahead of the others.

 The same day our attention was drawn to the brilliant amber young growth of Sycamore in a hedge of mixed species. Most of the Sycamores were still in tight bud, a few had opened with ‘normal’ green leaves. but an exception was the one in the picture below with brilliant rufous young leaves, although still the true wild Sycamore Acer platanus.Why do some individuals of some species show this colour in the young leaves? It is caused by anthocyanin, a red pigment which is thought to protect the young leaf from damage by  insects and/or too much sunlight . This pigment disappears when the plant is in full growth and the green chlorophyll prevails. But why only some of the Sycamores, and why not the Hazels or other species? And is this behaviour in this individual consistent every year? Is this ‘variety’ or ‘variability’? Only marking the plants and looking each year would tell me. 

 

 

The Sycamore with coloured leaves stood out in contrast.

 

I know that the same Hazel bush when I was a child in Hertfordshire could always be relied upon to produce ‘Lambs Tails’ several weeks earlier than any other hazel in the area. I think ‘variety’ or, in the botanical sense ‘form’ would be appropriate here. In this case defined as a noticeable morphological deviation which is consistent. For example Rosebay Willowherb  flowers are generally rosy-red, but there is a form which has white flowers, and botanists give this as ‘form alba’.

I have found that people anxious to learn to identify flowers can be thrown by the stated size of a plant in question in a plant book. They can take this too literally and be mis-directed in their quest because their specimen doesn’t agree with the printed information. Whereas in fact a plant can be extremely variable in size and habit according to the conditions it’s growing in. I remember a friend finding Thyme-leaved Speedwell. The book said 2 to 6” tall. My friend’s example was 8” tall because it was growing at the side of the path  in looser untrodden soil and probably a little more run-off so it was growing comparatively luxuriantly. But my pal insisted it was too big and must be something else!

Variability is a fact to be taken into account when identifying a species.

So there are many pitfalls for a learner which only more experience overcomes, and a wealth of unanswered questions within the natural world to keep everyone interested.