Scientists to rename 200 racist plants
Pictured: A flower from a Erythrina caffra tree, soon to be renamed Erythrina affra.
A group of researchers this month voted to rename over 200 plants that have been determined to have names racially offensive to Black people.
‘A monumental first step’
The vote came after a “gruelling six-day session” attended by over 100 researchers as part of the International Botanical Congress in Madrid, according to The Guardian. Over 60% of the botanists voted to rename all species with the name “caffra,” which sounds like the racial slur “kaffir” that refers to Black Africans. All plants, fungi, and algae with the name “caffra” will be renamed to “affra.” The coast coral tree, for example, which is named Erythrina caffra (pictured), will be renamed to Erythrina affra.
The scientists also voted to form a naming committee tasked with ensuring that no species will henceforth be named anything that might be considered offensive.
“This is an absolutely monumental first step in addressing an issue that has become a real problem in botany and also in other biological sciences,” said Sandy Knapp, a botanist from the Natural History Museum in London who presided over the six-day conference. “It is a very important start.”
No reports of complaints from Black communities
It is unknown if any Black communities have been offended by the plants and there is no mention of any complaints in the reports. There have also been no reported complaints from Vicente Mazimpaka Nibarere, the single Black member of the International Botanical Congress (IBC) Scientific Committee. The IBC Organizing Committee contains no Black members.
White scientists ‘very pleased’
The measure to rename the offending plants was proposed by Professors Gideon Smith and Estrela Figueiredo from South Africa’s Nelson Mandela University. Smith and Figueiredo, like Knapp, are White.
“We are very pleased with the retroactive and permanent eradication of a racial slur from botanical nomenclature,” said Smith. “It is most encouraging that more than 60% of our international colleagues supported this proposal.”
Kevin Thiele, a White Australian plant taxonomist, praised the vote as “at least a sliver of recognition of the issue.”
‘We need to make more changes’
Knapp said the decision to rename the caffra species is only a “baby step” and vowed to make more changes.
“The decision by botanists should make it clear to the scientific community that is involved in naming organisms that they need to open up conversations and to become more aware and respectful of what names should be permitted,” she said. “We have taken a baby step, no more than that. We need to make more changes to the rulebook. However, you never get anywhere until you start taking steps, and we have done that at last.”
