Gather names from wide table to long table (and drop column name)

gather_names.R

# Use install.packages() on dplyr and tidyr
library(dplyr)
library(tidyr)

# mock up data frame (or use read_xlsx function from readxl package to read in an excel sheet)
wrl_wide <-
    data.frame(
        Warlpiri = c("wumparlpa", "wartarurru"),
        `scientificName 1` = c("ecucalyptus leucophloia", "acacia validinervia"),
        `scientificName 2` = c("eucalyptus pruinosa", "acacia jennerae")
    )

wrl_wide %>%
    gather(key = column, value = scientific_name, -Warlpiri) %>% # make old column names in wide form into 
                                                                 # a column called 'column' and place its value into sci_name column
                                                                 # but don't touch Warlpiri column in the gather routine
    select(-column) # drop column 'column'