Begonia titoevangelistae
Do you know that you can name a plant after someone? Let’s look at Begonia titoevangelistae, a plant species named after a curator from the National Museum of the Philippines.
Begonia titoevangelistae is an endemic and critically endangered plant from Catanduanes. The name Begonia titoevangelistae is a scientific name. It is a formal botanical name that is accepted worldwide. Most of the time, the use of local names of plants creates confusion so, it is better to have one universally accepted formal name.
Although social media platforms such as Facebook won’t usually allow words to be italicized, the proper way to digitally put scientific name is to make the first word (or the genus name) and the second word (or the specific epithet) italicized. The first letter of the genus name is always capitalized and is written first while the specific epithet follows the genus name and is not capitalized.
Our distinguished local botanists, Mr. Danilo Tandang, Dr. Rosario Rubite and his team discovered the plant and decided to name it after Dr. Luisito “Tito” Evangelista, the Curator of the Botany and National Herbarium Division. Read here https://bit.ly/3g4im1m
Dr. Evangelista has been with the museum for almost three decades. With his great number of years in service, his contributions in the Museum, specifically in the management of the Philippine National Herbarium collection, is his legacy including the honor of having a species of the plant named after him.
Swipe right for the photos of the plant species and the Curator both in their natural habitats, highlighted by an impressive botanical illustration of the species from our Online Botanical Illustration Workshop.
If you want to meet Dr. Evangelista and some of our museum curators, you may register in the link in our profile.
Source: Text by Botany and National Herbarium Division | National Museum of the Philippines (2021)
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