And this generates my query. The two Pieris mentioned are Pieris rapae, the cabbage white butterfly, and Pieris japonica, a member of Ericaceae sometimes called Andromeda.

How can two different lifeforms share a genus name? Do the botanical folks and the zoological folks not communicate about which names are used for what? It seems like there would be an overarching organization that kept track of such issues, but perhaps there isn't? Which, if so, seems like an incredible oversight to me.

It seems incredibly (and unscientifically) inexact to rely on context to distinguish which Pieris one is talking about.

Thanks for any insight into this. It's buggin' me!

Marty

There are plenty of other examples; two more well-known ones are Prunella (Dunnock, a bird, and Self-heal, a plant related to dead-nettle), and Oenanthe (Wheatear, a bird, and Hemlock Water-dropwort, a poisonous plant related to carrot).

Resin

Not that my opinion counts one whit, but it still seems oddly inexact in such an exacting science as taxonomy to have parallel naming tracks like this.

Marty

I seem to remember there are some single-celled organisms which have to have different names, depending on whether they are considered to be plants or animals.

Resin