The short answer is yes!
It's all in the Latin you see. Over the years when horticulture was rapidly evolving there was a need to classify all plants so people anywhere in the world would know what's what. The pioneer plantsmen could have come up with a numerical system of naming or all manner of written descriptive titles but a near dead language, Latin, fitted the bill perfectly.
It's all in the Latin you see. Over the years when horticulture was rapidly evolving there was a need to classify all plants so people anywhere in the world would know what's what. The pioneer plantsmen could have come up with a numerical system of naming or all manner of written descriptive titles but a near dead language, Latin, fitted the bill perfectly.
The Sycamore is know by many different colloquial names throughout the world but thanks to Latin when you see any tree for sale labelled Acer Pseudoplatanus you know it is what we know here in the UK as a Sycamore.
It gets its English name from the species of fig whose Latin name is Ficus Sycomorus which is actually native to south western Asia. This is the Sycamore referred to in the Christian Holy Book. It was later applied to this species simply because of the superficial similarity in leaf shapes. This is often how trees and many other types of plants acquire their English names.
So to be clear. The Sycamores in Britain are all in the Genus Acer and their Latin species "moniker" is Pseudoplatanus. Japanese Maples are also in the Genus Acer but their Latin "moniker" is Palmatum.
Armed with this you can now inform your brother he is right and then blow his socks off by your new found knowledge of Latin plant names and tell him "but it isn't a Palmatum".
It gets its English name from the species of fig whose Latin name is Ficus Sycomorus which is actually native to south western Asia. This is the Sycamore referred to in the Christian Holy Book. It was later applied to this species simply because of the superficial similarity in leaf shapes. This is often how trees and many other types of plants acquire their English names.
So to be clear. The Sycamores in Britain are all in the Genus Acer and their Latin species "moniker" is Pseudoplatanus. Japanese Maples are also in the Genus Acer but their Latin "moniker" is Palmatum.
Armed with this you can now inform your brother he is right and then blow his socks off by your new found knowledge of Latin plant names and tell him "but it isn't a Palmatum".
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