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I had a question here about Monstera identification and I was surprised that there was no Monstera tag. Regarding the question there was no doubt that the plant is part of the Monstera genus, only the species and/or cultivar name were unknown. So I would have definitely added it to narrow the scope of the question down and to trigger the Monstera experts of the site.

Since then I have earned the "create tags" privilege and I have added a tag for Monstera genus, but I started to wonder how scientific classification of plants are being mapped to tags here.

For example there could be a Araceae/arum/aroids tag as well that I could have used on my question. As plants from this family are very popular I think having a tag for it could be beneficial but at this point I though that I would start a discussion here before I start making new tags like no tomorrow.

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    I am not sure why you are creating tags for species and genus when there is a common name in use. Aroids is unlikely to be used when peace-lily is. Can you add an answer to your question to explain your thinking?
    – kevinskio Mod
    Dec 21, 2020 at 18:19
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    @kevinsky Please check my answer. I think aroid should be used as a supplementary tag beside peace-lily to be able to filter for broader scope. Regarding genus I think the same, while agreeing to have either genus or common name. Regarding the specific example with Rhaphidophora tetrasperma, in that case the common name is there for that specific species and not for the genus and that common name is very misleading given it has Monstera in it, so I found it better to have the scientific name as tag.
    – Bence Kaulics
    Dec 21, 2020 at 18:52
  • Genus and species are different things. If you create these tags then you may as well create Phylum and Order to cover pest control questions.
    – Chenmunka
    Jan 6, 2021 at 13:45

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The existing tags are all over the place and are not consistent for genus, species or name. We have apples but not malus, avocado but not persea, bell-pepper and bell-peppers, acer and maple.

Given that there is no standard it does appear that common name tags are more popular leading one to conclude that gardeners are not usually botanists.

Also, with the advent of DNA analysis botanists have been busy reclassifying species which results in no end of confusion. I am thinking of pothos as an example.

I look forward to any other opinions but based on usage I believe the creation of new plant tags should go by these questions:

  • is there a widely used common name if so, create a tag for it
  • if there are too many common names or none as in Monstera create a tag for the genus
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Having tags for genus/common names and family could be useful for subscriptions and for tag filtering. I am for example interested in all that are Monstera and all that are aroid, etc. but I cannot subscribe to all and mark all of them as favorite as there are way too much species/genus.

Tagging a question about Pothos with aroid as well would allow to see everything at one place if aroid tag is used. While checking Pothos tag would exclude Philodendrons or Monsteras.

So over all having genus or even family name tags beside species tag would help people to customize the question feed by their wider or narrower interests.

Also I agree with that where there is a common name, that could be used instead of the genus. So for example with Peace lily which has already a tag there is no need for a Spathiphyllum tag.

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