Originally entitled The naming of plants and the meanings of plant names, this book is in two parts. The first part has been written as an account of the way in which the naming of plants has changed with time and why the changes were necessary. It has not been the writer's intention to dwell upon the more fascinating aspects of common names but rather to progress from these to the situation which exists today; in which the botanical and horticultural names of plants must conform to internationally agreed standards. The aim has been to produce an interesting text which is equally as acceptable to the amateur gardener as to the botanist. The temptation to make this a definitive guide to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature was resisted since others have done this already and with great clarity. A brief comment on synonymous and illegitimate botanical names and a reference to recent attempts to accommodate the various traits and interests in the naming of cultivated plants was added after the first edition.

The book had its origins in a collection of Latin plant names, and their meanings in English, which continued to grow by the year but which could never be complete. Not all plant names have meaningful translations. Some of the botanical literature gives full citation of plant names (and translations of the names, as well as common names). There are, however, many horticultural and botanical publications in which plant names are used in a casual manner, or are misspelled, or are given meanings or common names that are neither translations nor common (in the world-wide sense).