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I just got a pothos to liven up my study/reading area. The amusing pun concept to make a "Pathos (pothos), Ethos, and Logos" themed mini garden struck me and now I can't rest until I know if it's plausible. My Google-fu is failing me on this one.

Can anyone help me identify houseplants with names (scientific or common) that sound close enough? I'll setting for ones with approximately similar translations or lore (Ethos - ethic/character. Logos - logic/literal word).

Absurd yet accurate answers work for me too. This is a pretty absurd request. Finding it possible but impractical is good enough to silence the wordplay weasels in my head.

I got the pothos because I know nothing of plants and needed a low maintenance starter for a medium light area. I'll completely understand if this is considered off topic or too stupid to answer. Thanks for any input.

EDIT:

Marking an answer as accepted because it lead me to an acceptable solution. Sharing my findings for my own future reference and anyone curious. New thoughts are always welcome and will be upvoted if interesting.

My favorites in plants:

Ethos- Common names: Ethiopian Nightshade and Ethiopian Rattlebox. Scientific names: Chiropetalum astroplethos (Mexican Silverbush).

Logos- Common names: Log Fern and Kellogg's Monkeyflower Scientific names: Logfia depressa (Dwarf Cottonrose)

Unfortunately, making a complete set would appear to require some hunting, and only the Log Fern looked well enough suited for my apartment and skill level.

I was going to dismiss it completely until I accidentally forgot Colin's advice to filter a search by plantae. "Ethologist Fairy Shrimp" jumped out at me (fancy name for brine shrimp). Ethos and Logos in one package, and 50,000 low maintenance colorful pets for $10. Reliable character, simple logical genetic coding, likely unaffected by emotional appeal, and will certainly liven up the area. Mission success.

Phil C
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  • http://www.theplantlist.org/ contains over a million plant species names. You will have to figure out how to search it yourself, though. (A quick visual browse turned up *Logania*…) – alephzero Jan 27 '19 at 11:08
  • Interesting, but for one thing, pothos isn't the plant's name, its just a common name like Betty or Bob rather than a plant name - the name of the plant you mean is Epipremnum aureum, And the name pothos, whilst common in America, is not always used in other countries - devil's ivy is another well known common name for this plant. Which means, whilst you might be able to find other plants that fit with Ethos and Logos, presumably, you'd be trying to find those that fit under their common names, which vary round the world, rather than their true names? – Bamboo Jan 27 '19 at 11:43
  • I am not sure this question is about gardening, might be better suited for a site about language – kevinskio Jan 27 '19 at 12:45
  • @alephzero Thanks for the link. The ability to add variables into the search string has excellent potential. – Phil C Jan 27 '19 at 14:46
  • @Bamboo Common names are completely fine, if not preferable. This is about tickling my brain and possibly making someone else groan if they make the bad pun connection. I'm an uncultured American, and odds are good anyone else in my house will be too. – Phil C Jan 27 '19 at 14:59
  • I see what you're saying - for you its a fun intellectual exercise, but of course, if you're happy to use common names, you can, in fact, call your plants anything you like - including ethos and logos. That's how common names come about, after all... – Bamboo Jan 27 '19 at 15:26
  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is about etymology – kevinskio Jan 27 '19 at 22:30

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Good question. I remember that Aristotle and I had a number of discussions on this important issue. At the time of course the ITIS database was not available and our searches were rather restricted, but now of course we can search within names for strings such as ethos and logos and come up with some pretty interesting alternatives. Just make sure to search within Plantae; you would not want a ferocious animal or nasty bacterium in your themed garden, or perhaps you would...

One simple approach would be to use a simple log for logos and then restrict searches to the epiphytes containing "ethos" and grow an orchid or such on the log. Also note that the greek for ethos is ήθος so in fact we are not restricted to the initial 'e' in ethos but perhaps an 'i' or 'y', a subtle but perhaps necessary linguistic and rhetorical extrapolation.

I could suggest a number of alternative plants but would be much more interested in your suggestions now that you have the keys.

Colin Beckingham
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  • That database looks like an excellent resource. Also good point about alternate spellings. I'd rather keep it simple and obvious, but that does expand my options if I come up short. Thanks! "Ethiopian Nightshade" came up, and having a poisonous plant producing mock tomatos as my ethics companion made me chuckle. Might not be ideal for the space and light limits though. Happy to hear any suggestions you have. – Phil C Jan 27 '19 at 15:06
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    Thanks again for the link to ITIS. Extremely helpful for searching. Turns out what I needed might be somewhere between a ferocious animal and a nasty bacterium after all. Details in the question edit if you're curious. – Phil C Jan 27 '19 at 20:24