Anyone who was lucky enough to take biology in secondary school would have heard of names like amoeba and paramecium, a subject like agricultural science might have also exposed the person to names like zea mays and discorea spp but as we move on in our educational pursuits we tend to forget these names except for a few that just seems to stick after all these years. But the scientific name of a plant or animal is probably as important as it local name especially as the world becomes smaller by the second.
A brief look at the nature of scientific names reveals some qualities in them one of which is that they have two names more like a name and surname system, they usually are italicised or underlined and they are always in Latin or Latinized. For the animal names they are guided by the international code for zoological nomenclature and as for the plants they are guided by the international code for botanical nomenclature, all this trouble so that all plants and animals are given a uniform name worldwide.
Lest we forget as with many scientific name write up we will like to introduce to the scientific name of the animals that we consume then a list of the more common plants whose products we consume.
Scientific name of common animals consumed in Nigeria
Fowl Gallus gallus
Goat Capra hircus
Sheep Ovis aries
Cattle Bos indicus
Swine Sus scrofa
Turkey Meleagris gallopavo
Snail Achachantina achantina
Botanical names of some plants in Nigeria
Maize Zea mays
Yam Discorea spp
Cowpea Vigna unguiculata
Rice Oryza sativa
Cassava Manihot spp
Vegetable Amaranthus spp
Tomamto Lycopersicon lycopersicon
Paw paw Ciraca papaya
Guinea corn Gycine max
Groundnut Arachis hypogea
Potato Ipomea batatas
Oil palm Elaeis guineesis
