Man's highly developed constructive curiosity and his capacity for communication are two of the attributes distinguishing him from all other animals. Man alone has sought to understand the whole living world and things beyond his own environment and to pass his knowledge on to others. Consequently, when he discovers or invents something new he also creates a new word, or words, in order to be able to communicate his discovery or invention to others. There are no rules to govern the manner in which such new words are formed other than those of their acceptance and acceptability. This is equally true of the common, or vulgar or vernacular names of plants. Such names present few problems until communication becomes multilingual and the number of plants named becomes excessive. For example, the diuretic dandelion is easily accommodated in European languages. As the lion's tooth, it becomes Lowenzahn, dent de lion, dente di leone. As piss-abed it becomes Pissenlit, piscacane, and piscialetto. When further study reveals that there are more than a thousand different kinds of dandelion throughout Europe, the formulation of common names for these is both difficult and unacceptable.

Common plant names present language at its richest and most imaginative (welcome home husband however drunk you be, for the houseleek or Sempervivum; shepherd's weather-glass, for scarlet pimpernel or Anagallis; meet her i'th'entry kiss her i'th'buttery, or leap up and kiss me, for Viola tricolor; touch me not, for the balsam Impatiens noli-tangere; mind your own business, or mother of thousands, for Soleirolia soleirolii; blood drop emlets, for Mimulus luteus).