Botanists change at least 200 plant names that are considered racist

The International Botanical Congress, which is being held in Madrid until Saturday, approved the elimination of at least 200 names related to the word cafre, which comes from the Arabic word kafir (pagan or infidel) and which served to name the inhabitants of the Cafreria, a former English colony in South Africa.

The decision, which was voted on by the nomenclature section, corresponds to Congress' intention to reject plant names it considers discriminatory to a group of people.

"There will now be a mechanism to propose the rejection of names if they are derogatory to a group of people, but it will only apply to names made after 2026. Offensive historical names of plants, fungi and algae will remain as they are," detailed the Spanish newspaper El País, which reported the event. 

Despite the radical measure, the congress decided to keep the names of plants that pay homage to controversial figures in history, such as Adolf Hitler and George Hibbert.

"A type of beetle described in 1937 is named Anophthalmus hitleri, after Adolf Hitler. A Guinea flower was named Hibbertia vestita, after George Hibbert, an advocate of slavery between the 18th and 19th centuries," the media outlet highlighted.

According to members of the congress, keeping the name of figures like Hitler was done because they do not consider it to be offensive nowadays.

"Hitler is a name of a person. I know people who are called Hitler now. It's a name, it's not a denigratory term," saidon Sandra Knapp, chairwoman of the nomenclature section.

"There are recommendations that you don't name names after people who are bad people, and that genera not be named by people who have nothing to do with science. I don't think anyone today is going to name something after Hitler. Hopefully not, but you could. It's hard to regulate that. I believe we have to think that the community is going to act in a respectful way toward other people," she added.