Botanic Gardens Trust, Sydney, Australia

Plant info




Plant Labels

The plant labels we use in our Gardens are there to provide you with the following information:

  • Scientific name - in italics at the top of the label. The genus name is first (capital letter) and is followed by the species name. Some abbreviations that may appear are ‘sp.’ for species, to indicate the plant is not yet fully identified; ‘var.’ for variety, indicating to which naturally occurring variety the plant belongs; ‘cv.’ for cultivar which is a plant selected and grown for its variation from the normal population.
  • Common name - the commonly used, non-scientific name for the plant.
  • Label text - this usually begins with the natural distribution of the plant, the places where you would see it in its natural habitat. Other information follows such as its rarity, uses and how it is grown.
  • Family name - this is the botanical family to which the genus belongs.
  • Accession number - this information is located on the same line as the Family and is the key to identifying the plant in our computer records. Note that this appears on labels at the Australian Botanic Garden and the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden but only on old labels in the Royal Botanic Garden.
  • Abbreviated collection locality - this is the collection location for plants that have been collected ‘in the wild’. The plant is actually from the place mentioned. This only appears on labels with accession numbers.

Australian Botanic Garden

plant label

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