As the term implies, these are names that are in common usage by the general public to identify a particular plant. With some ornamental genera, this can be quite confusing. For example plants in the genus Monarda, a common landscape flower, may be known as beebalm, Oswego tea, horsemint or bergamot depending on where you happen to be located. Fortunately, knowledgeable plant people anywhere in the world and in any language will know the plant by its scientific name, Monarda didyma.

The gardening public has pretty much settled on calling hostas...hostas. As we discussed earlier, you might occasionally run into an older book,  article or plant label that will still call them either Plantain Lily or Funkia. I still see these outdated names on the random plant tag in nurseries and, as in the label shown above, even at botanical gardens of high repute. So, hostas it is...for the foreseeable future anyway.