"Impress your friends, family and co-workers. Yes, in just a few short weeks, you too can become fluent in Botanicaleese. Communicate easily with landscape architects, upscale garden designers and the dude down at the garden center. Join millions of people worldwide who have become happier, healthier and more attractive to the opposite sex after learning to speak botanical Latin."

Have you seen advertisements like this in national magazines and newspapers? OK, so maybe you haven't. Maybe you think that people who insist on using botanical plant names are elitists and show-offs. In reality, many of us are just plant geeks who want to make sure we get the exact plant we want, and often the scientific name is the only way to be certain the non-descript one gallon container we brought home from the nursery is what we thought it was.

The system of binomial nomenclature for plant names used today is credited to 16th-century Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus. In this system, a name typically has a genus, a species, and sometimes a sub-species and cultivar. The genus might be named after an individual (as in Freesia, named for German botanist Heinrich Freese) or a characteristic (Cosmos after the Greek word meaning beautiful) or from the classical origin of the name (Berberis, after the ancient Arabian name for the fruit). These names are recognized worldwide and are precise, unlike common names, which are often regional in nature and applied to more than one plant.

Take for example the mock orange. Run down to your local garden center and you might come home with a Pittosporum tobira, the ubiquitous evergreen shrub used in commercial landscapes and foundation plantings, or perhaps Philadelphus coronarius, a deciduous shrub with white fragrant flowers in the spring. You may even get a specimen of Choisya ternata, sometimes called Mexican orange.

Looking for a geranium? The true Geranium is a genus of herbaceous perennials used often as edging in borders, or ground covers, many of which die back to the ground in winter and re-appear in spring. The common "zonal" geranium or ivy geranium is in reality a Pelargonium. Ever get a blank look when you ask the nurseryperson for a "Bluebell" or maybe a "Dragonplant"? Maybe your name for that plant is not the same as your neighbor's.

Botanical names can be pretty interesting too. The correct name for lavender is Lavandula from the Latin word "lavo," to wash. You can see the connection -- "lavo" as a root for the English word lavatory. Lavender has been used since ancient times for soaps and perfumes.

Borage, or "Borago" botanically, comes from the Latin "burra" -- a hairy garment, (think burr) and anyone who has pulled one up without gloves on knows how this name came about. Sometimes those three years of Latin that I struggled through at St. Mary's come in handy. Sister Cornelia Joseph (aka Corny Joe) would be proud.

Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners (www.mastergardeners.org) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to noon, at UC Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Ave., Suite 4, Napa, 253-4221, or toll free at 877-279-3065. E-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on the Web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions?