Capitalization of names of species

[Svrtnsse]

Ahoy all,

I've come up with a couple of names for plants I've made up for my world. Should the names of the plants be capitalized or not? For example - would it be oak or Oak? (I'm aware that's an actual tree and not something I've made up).

 

[Asura Levi]

I guess if you are talk about oak in general, then is 'oak', unless is an specific one, some sort of The Oak, even being just an oak as any other, something on That Oak is special/different.

Another example, I had the fantasy race Anelen and Vumma, albeit the name of the race being capitalized, I would write 'anelen' and 'vuuma' when referred in talks, general description.

At least is how I work with it, hope had being of some help.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Thanks.

 

[Filk]

On referencing The Copyeditor's Handbook I am told that common plant names are a big uncertainty and one should consult a dictionary. However, I think that lowercase would be the better case e.g. sedge, grass, willow, elm, arrowroot, etc. The exception would be a plant named after a person or other proper noun like (these are fictional) Rome grass or Micheal's willow.


Edit: For binomial nomenclature the genus is capitalized and the species is not. They are also italicized e.g Cornus candensis or Tussilago farfara.

 

[SeverinR]

Interesting, looked up a plant, St John's wort. Some sites capitalized every word(St John's Wort), some just the title and personal name (St.John's wort).
I thought it was set.
I thought the last was what was proper. (St.[capitalize title] John's[capitalize name] wort[type of plant])

 

[skip.knox]

Asura Levi's advice appeals to me. I'm a historian and my students often ask about capitalization of something like bishop or duke. The rule is simple, though often violated: if it's a generic duke, then it's lower case; if it's a particular person and that's his title, then it's Duke Otto. The capital is because it's part of his name.

 

[Taytortots]

I agree with Skip and Asura completely.
I would say you should only capitalize if you're talking about a specific form.