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Re: Plant Names

From:Barry Garcia <barry_garcia@...>
Date:Saturday, October 2, 1999, 4:32
hmiller@io.com writes:
>It may be. I've never heard any name but "bluebonnet" used for L. >texensis. >Tirelat words, though, have a dual purpose of representing a unique >species >and a larger group of related species, so "gulelhom" in the broader sense >includes the whole genus Lupinus (as for instance in English, "starling" >can either refer to a certain species, Sturnus vulgaris, or any member of >the starling family).
In Tilon Nevo the general words are used for any plant that looks like, for instance a lupine (bush, sky, beach etc. just as in English), or a specific one. When someone wants to know the specific name, thats when the full name of the plant is used. For instance, a small conversation between two people out in the chapparal could go like this: p1: Chapas ho kilo meko! p2: Ke meko in?! p1: Kilo tsoikon dalon meko! p2: Oh, she tu wu dikal kelo in? translation: p1: Look at that oak! p2: Which oak?! p1: That spiny leaved oak (coast live oak)! p2: Oh, why didn't you say that? Though I must admit, that conversation would be weird to anyone who lives near the chapparal, because there is only one type of tree in the chapparal and that is the Coast Live Oak.