As Botanists Drop a Racist Plant Name, Some Fear Scientific Confusion

The International Botanical Congress voted to change a scientific name belonging to hundreds of plant species because it was offensive in southern Africa.

In July, plant scientists at the International Botanical Congress in Madrid changed a scientific name shared by about 200 different plant species. In altering “caffra” to “affra,” the scientists claimed they were voting to fix a misspelling. But almost everyone who cast a ballot knew that “caffra” wasn’t a spelling error.

For centuries, the word “caffra” was used in the scientific names of many plants to denote that they grew in Africa. But the term is also a Latinized version of “Kaffir,” a word that, in southern Africa, is now considered an extremely offensive racial slur against Black Africans. Botanists in the region have objected to using the term to refer to African plants. In South Africa, use of the word can result in a fine or even a prison sentence.

“We owe it to ourselves to make amends that recognize the wrongs our previous generations did,” said Nigel Barker, a botanist at the University of Pretoria who was raised in South Africa during apartheid. He noted that South Africans had abandoned many official names linked to that era.

Debates over names have become increasingly frequent in science. Insect scientists have forsaken the common names “gypsy moths” and “gypsy ants” because they are derogatory to Romani people. Some researchers have argued that names honoring racists and colonizers are offensive. This led to the American Ornithological Society’s decision last year to change the common names of bird species named after people, and to NYC Audubon’s recent rebranding to NYC Bird Alliance.

But the shift to “affra” was a different moment, as the official scientific names of hundreds of species will be altered. Scientists are typically averse to changes in scientific naming because stable nomenclature is important for unambiguous communication between researchers around the world. They will usually change a name only when genetic evidence proves a species has been misnamed.

When similar concerns arose last year over animal species named after Adolf Hitler (Rochlingia hitleri, a beetle) and Benito Mussolini (Hypopta mussolinii, a moth), among others, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature declined to change their scientific names.