Taxonomy: Ur Doing It Wrong

Posted By elissa on Aug 6, 2010 | 3 comments

I’m in the middle of penning a review of USP Labs” Pink Magic, which consists of a blend of three herbal ingredients. Looking at the label, I noted – for the umpteenth time – an amusing discrepancy with the way they’re written, vs. the way they’re supposed to be written.

Many supp companies refer to common plant-based ingredients by their botanical names.  For example, “Nelumbo Nucifera” sounds more exotic and “sciency” than simply “Lotus.”   This makes it harder for customers to figure out what they’re swallowing, of course, but that’s the way the game is played. Let them eat Google, I guess.

But if the companies that do this are really on top of their scientific/technical game(s) (as they like to insist in their ads), then how come they never seem to write these names correctly?  There’s a particular way in which formal, scientific plant/animal names are supposed to be written… it’s not, for example, “Nelumbo Nucifera” – it’s Nelumbo nucifera.  The genus name (Nelumbo) is capitalized, but the species name never is. In addition, proper taxonomic names are italicized (admittedly, I often lose the italics myself, but this is for the sake of readablity.  TBH, I really don’t care for the font/size we’re using here at UFB.  😉 ).

Interestingly enough, the (few) bottles of straight-up herbal supps I have on my shelf conform much better to the standards.  For example, a bottle of “Heliocare” identifies the main ingredient as “Polypodium leucotomos.” And a bottle of “PM Phytogen Complex” lists “Standardized extract of Pueraria mirifica” on the label.  Sweet.

Yet I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bodybuilding supplement company even come close to following the proper naming convention. Ok – it’s not like I’ve ogled every single label of every single product with herbal ingredients on the market – but among the ones I’ve used/reviewed, the names are always rendered in title case.  It’s a small thing, perhaps, but I’m tempted to see it as just one more indication that the claims of scientific expertise made in product ads are a bit… hollow.