For example, Kalmia latifolia is called mountain laurel, mountain ivy, Virginia ivy, mountain kalmia, or kalmia laurel. Or, we can have one name applied to several plants. For example, tea or the tea plant could be Camellia sinensis , Chenopodium ambrosioides , Ilex glabra , Monarda didyma or others. The scientific name is in Latin, which is the international language of science. Some people have difficulty with Latin names.
Binomial nomenclature is the system of giving each plant a scientific name consisting of two parts.
The generic name is capitalized, underlined, or written in italics. Genera are grouped into families, families into orders, and on up the hierarchial levels of classification. Each level of this clasification includes plants with many characterstics in common. So plant classification is in a very meaningful and useful system. The second part of the scientific name is the specific epithet, an adjective describing members of a genus.