The Language of Flowers - Latin No More? - NYTimes.com The botanist James S. Miller ("Flora, Now in English," Op-Ed, Jan. 23) thinks it a cause for celebration that the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature no longer requires that a new species be described in Latin; English and other languages can now be used. What if Mr. Miller were Chinese; would he prefer English to Latin? What if a Chinese botanist described a new species in his own language? Would that suit English-speaking scientists? Language is one of the means by which a civilization asserts its dominance over others. If a case could be made for using English as the new lingua franca, the time for that seems to have passed because the Chinese can perhaps make an equal claim on behalf of their language. In short, I think that it's a mistake to substitute modern languages for an ancient universal one that does not bear the stamp of cultural hegemony. By the way, I am also a Latin teacher (fair disclosure, you know).