Bay Leaves and Asparagus

A couple of days ago I heard on the news that an attempt would be made to control Sudden Oak Death in Big Sur by removing individual "bay laurel" trees.

Two things about this news story were problematic.

1. "Bay laurel" is not the name of the Umbellularia californica tree. It is California bay. Or laurel. But not both. Using both is merges two separate common names, and is like merging "mountain lion" and "cougar". You wouldn't say "I saw a mountain lion cougar."



Now, the thing about common names is that they can change over time (except for bird names, which seem to be strictly controlled by the ornithology taxonomy police). So, because prominent individuals are using "bay laurel" when writing and talking about this tree, it is entering common usage, and becoming a new common name. But that is okay, since it is just a common name (but I'm certain the  instructor who taught my dendrology class 20 years ago will never accept it).

On the other hand, scientific names are in Latin and are supposed to be the unchanging scientific identifier of a species. Unfortunately, scientists studying DNA are finding that organisms had been misclassified, and are fixing these taxonomic errors by renaming many plants and animals. This "fixing" actually creates problems, because scientific names that are supposed to remain the same over time are changing. People that learned a scientific name and used it their entire lives have to learn a new one. And as science progresses further, maybe some names will change again. This defeats the purpose of using Latin for scientific names--although the other side could be argued as well, that people just need to learn the new names--but so many names are changing that it does feel like we have lost a useful standard. Instead of using a tool (DNA testing) to meet our needs, we are letting that tool eliminate the usefulness of another tool in the toolbox--the standardized use of Latin names. But letting tools control us--isn't that what humans always do with fancy new tools?

Maybe if we all start using "mountain lion cougar" all the time that will catch on, and be equally annoying to the people who know that it once was two separate names.

Before I get back from this tangent, I want to tell you one more thing: Joshua Trees are now in the asparagus family! They used to be lilies. But this may change again when we have better information, so don't cook up that Joshua Tree just yet.

2. OK, the other thing about the news story that raised my concern is the plan to eliminate individual bay trees in order to control Sudden Oak Death. The only place this seems feasible is a location with lots of susceptible oaks (the oaks in the Black Oak subgenus as well as tan oak) and very few bays. And maybe the plan is targeted for a few of these high value areas. Implemented properly, it might save some remnant oak forest that will otherwise disappear from California's landscape. So maybe it is worth a try. I think often we try to control land management from afar too much, and local land managers on the ground need quite a bit of deference. The political direction from Sacramento and Washington should in most cases be limited to policies and goals that experienced and knowledgeable local land managers can implement.

But... that said... this sounds a lot like the attempt early in the 1900s to control White Pine Blister Rust by eradicating currant and gooseberry host plants. A lot of workers spent summers eliminating those Ribes plants (which the fungus used for part of its life cycle) all over the West. And it didn't work.