For anyone who intends to conduct research on wild plants, the first task is to locate them. In Mexico the best repository of such information is the local people, many of whom possess intimate knowledge of their distribution and use. (Click here for examples.) The best of them know even the rarest plants in the remotest regions of the area. However, most of these people are not familiar with scientific names.
It is a tremendous advantage to the researcher to be able to communicate with local people using their vernacular nomenclature. However, this is not easy. Vernacular names of plants vary among regions. In Sonora alone there are three major colloquial nomenclatures for plants: northern Sonora, southern Sonora, and the Río Bavispe region. One can look up the names of individual plants in various printed references, but it would be very tedious to carry on a general conversation about plants with a Sonoran rancher using these resources.
In this database, the first Spanish vernacular name listed is the one most commonly used in the vicinity of Alamos. Other Sonoran Spanish names and sometimes more generic Mexican names are also listed,with documentation of the source. English vernacular names have been listed from our collective knowledge without documentation. To search for Spanish names, you must spell correctly with accented letters and ñ as required.
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