Scientific Plant Name Generator

Botanical names follow the binomial system Linnaeus laid out in Species Plantarum in 1753: a capitalised genus followed by a lowercase specific epithet, both in italics, as in Quercus robur (English oak) or Digitalis purpurea (foxglove). The epithet is a Latin adjective or noun that must agree in gender with the genus, which is why you see Salvia officinalis but Rosmarinus officinalis and Taraxacum officinale. Tree genera ending in -us are treated as feminine, so it is Pinus sylvestris and Fagus sylvatica, a detail that instantly separates a plausible invented name from a careless one.

Epithets usually describe something real about the plant. Colour (alba, nigra, purpurea, caerulea), habitat (palustris, sylvatica, montana, maritima, arvensis), form (cordifolia, lanceolata, spinosa, repens, pendula), season (vernalis, autumnale), use (officinalis, sativa, edulis, tinctorium) and origin (canadensis, japonica, sinensis) account for most of them, with a smaller set honouring people (davidii, menziesii, arnoldii) or places (-ensis). Unlike zoology, botany forbids tautonyms, so Bison bison has no plant equivalent.

The list mixes roughly 350 accepted names of real species, ordered loosely by group from oaks and conifers through herbs, crops, bulbs, wildflowers, ferns and cacti, with an invented block at the end that keeps the grammar and vocabulary intact for fictional plants.