Talk:Berberis repens

Short description

@SimLibrarian, why do you think that "species of flowering plant" is a better short description for this species than "Western North American species of barberry"? It is definiatly not too long as it is 40 characters including spaces. I wrote that short description to be more specific than just "flowering plant" as there are aprox. 300,000 named species of flowering plant. 🌿MtBotany (talk) 21:28, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

@MtBotany The most important is that most people aren't familiar with "barberry" and won't know what it is at a glance (WP:SDJARGON). "North American species of flowering plant" would be appropriate -- it's one character shorter than "Western North American species of barberry" (41 vs. 42 characters) while only using words the average reader knows. SimLibrarian (talk) 22:29, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

@SimLibrarian If this were a genus like Penstemon, I would agree that most people would not know what it is. But barberry is similar in use in the English language as is petunia, one of the most well known garden plants. Source: Google Ngram. 🌿MtBotany (talk) 22:53, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

@MtBotany Petunia and barberry are both sub-optimal compared to "flowering plant" -- please keep in mind that short descriptions should use simple language as much as possible and brevity and uniformity are preferred over detail (see WP:SDEXAMPLES). SimLibrarian (talk) 22:58, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

@MtBotany For comparing the two, would also suggest that Google Search Trends are a more useful indicator for common usage than inclusion in books. Petunia is 2-4 times more searched depending on time of year. SimLibrarian (talk) 23:00, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

That's interesting. I just asked three random non-botanists here at the library and only one had heard of barberry, so I think maybe you're right. What about buttercup family? My usual default is "Plant species in the FOO family" for plants since most common names for plant families seem moderately well known. 🌿MtBotany (talk) 23:11, 9 November 2024 (UTC)

@MtBotany Yeah, my informal survey of a few non-botanist friends found zero familiar with barberry and all familiar with petunia. I think buttercups are pretty widely known. IMO "Plant species in the [name] family" is also generally suitable since "plant" removes the ambiguity for anyone who doesn't recognize the [name]. SimLibrarian (talk) 19:47, 10 November 2024 (UTC)