Racist flowers get new names

Published 29 July 2024 at 11.43

Foreign. During an international botanical congress in Madrid, over 100 scientists have voted through the name changes of more than 200 plant species. The reason is that the old names are considered inappropriate and “racist”.

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Congress has decided to change plant, fungus and algae names that contain the word “caffra”, which is considered an insult to Africans.

The new word “affra” will now be used to describe their African origins.

The initiative to remove “caffra” came from plant taxonomists Gideon Smith and Estrela Figueiredo from Nelson Mandela University in South Africa.

– We are very pleased with the permanent erasure of racist expressions from the botanical nomenclature, Gideon Smith told the Observer.

p>He adds that it is gratifying that over 60 percent of the international colleagues supported the proposal.