Here is the full botanical name of spreading snake herb: Dyschoriste schiedeana var. decumbens. Someone (Asa Gray?) had fun putting the Greek words together to form the genus meaning difficult to separate, referring to “ the valves of the capsules which adhere tightly to each other.”
The specific epithet honors the German physician and botanist Christian Julius Wilhelm Schiede of the early 1800s (Willy, to his friends) who emigrated to Mexico to study the flora and fauna.
The variety name decumbens means…hello.. decumbent! That would be a good name for a recliner! “Nap like a botanist in the Decumbent!”
The photos are mine: a burroweed in bloom and some snake herb pics which aren’t that good, soo listen, you could go to the SEINet site, put the botanical name in Search and you’ll find a species description and a bunch of photos. Pretty cool, right?
