Plant Names
The scientific names of flowering plants and ferns are those of the list by Kent
(1992) and its supplements or, in the case of plants not in that, those of the
New Flora of the British Isles (Stace 1997). Similarly for those of the lower
plants, the most authoritative publications have been followed.
For vernacular names, the nearest to a standard list of the English ones of
British and Irish flowering plants and ferns is that sponsored by the Botani-
cal Society of the British Isles (Dony et al. 1986), which has been adhered to,
and extended to many species not included in that work, by Stace (1997).
This is now in general use, at least for scientific publications. It has been
thought advisable to make it the basis for the purposes ofMedicinal Plants in
Folk Tradition: An Ethnobotany of Britain & Ireland,too,for the number of
vernacular names on record is bewilderingly large (cf. Grigson 1955) and
different ones enjoy currency in different circles and different areas. Where
names other than those of the standard list as extended by Stace have been
used particularly widely, however, they have been added for ease of reference,
as also have some in the Celtic languages that are encountered especially fre-
quently in the folklore records. In these instances the name in the standard list
is the one that appears first. For other than flowering plants and ferns, the ver-
nacular name most in use in the latest handbooks has been followed.
SEQUENCE OF FAMILIES AND SPECIES
For the flowering plants, the Cronquist classification as used in the publica-
tions by Kent and Stace has been followed. The hierarchy of superorders
(-iflorae) and orders (-ales) under which families (-aceae) are grouped in the
modified version of the Cronquist classification of Stace (1997, xxv–xxvii)
has provided a means of avoiding an otherwise unacceptably unwieldy ref-
erencing system. The need to provide a source reference for each individual
record requires so many superscript numbers that, if these were to be in a
single sequential series, they would run to more digits than would be practi-
cable. The systematic list of plants has accordingly been divided into chapters,
each with its separate, self-contained sequence of numbered references to
the Notes at the end of each one. Conveniently, the Cronquist classification
groups the flowering plant families recognised into a series of affinity clusters
and subclusters. As many families are not represented among the plants with
folk uses recorded in this book, those that are can be grouped in such a way
that twelve subdivisions not too dissimilar in size emerge. The rest of the
36 Plant Names