After many years of debate, botanists have voted to rename over 200 species of plants, fungi, and algae with names associated with racism. This is the first time such a move has been undertaken.
The decision was made at the International Botanical Congress (IBC) held from July 21 to July 27 in Madrid, Spain, where 351 out of 556 attendees voted in favor of renaming names that contain or derive from the term “caffra”—a word often used to disparage Black people, particularly in South Africa.
The plant species Erythrina caffra will be renamed to Erythrina affra – (Photo: Shutterstock).
Effective from the end of July, the offensive term will be replaced with “affra” and other derived terms, as a means to indicate the African origin of these plant species, according to IFLScience.
Botanists Gideon F. Smith and Estrela Figueiredo from Nelson Mandela University (South Africa) first proposed this idea in 2021.
“We are very grateful to colleagues around the world who have supported our efforts to eliminate racial bias in the names of plant species“, Smith said regarding the recent vote.
However, not everyone in the scientific community agrees with the renaming. “Stabilizing scientific names is essential for all activities in the field of biological sciences” – stated the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.
This argument may not hold water, as scientists may need to use the scientific name of a plant species but find that it carries an offensive meaning.
In November 2023, the American Ornithological Society introduced a solution for the names of bird species. This involves keeping the scientific names intact while changing the English names of birds associated with slavery, racism, and misogyny.
The debate over whether to change the scientific and common names of plant and animal species will continue even after this vote, and this applies to fields beyond biology, according to IFLScience.
