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Botanic LatinNot an exhaustive guide by any means, just some that I find useful, interesting or singular for whatever reason. |
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Connected pages Botanic Latin | Christmas | Cures and gardening tips | Trees | Vegetables / edible plants / Wild plants |
A
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acerb - harsh, bitter, stinging - as in acerbic wit (acerbifolia)
aestiv - referring to summer (aestivus). Some animals aestivate in harsh hot conditions, a summer hibernation.
alb / a - white albiflorens - white flowered, albidum / albomaculatum - white spotted, albicans, albicaulis - white stemmed. Many white varieties of flowering plants are given the suffix alba. Albino, from the same word root.
anemo - referring to wind (Anemone - wind flower / anemometer)
angui - referring to a snake shape. anguinus, also Anguilla - eels.
B
bland - mild, pleasant, blanda. Rather than the English meaning that veers towards the dull.
C
ceph - referring to a head, Cephalanthus - flowers in a head. Also Cephalopods, octopuses / squid / cuttlefish, "Head - foots" the most highly encephalized (literally "headed") group among the molluscs the group that contains the dear sweet slugs and snails.
cera - referring to a horn ceratiformis - in the form of a horn, platyceras - broad/flat horn. Triceratops - three horned on the head.
chamae - dwarf, low Chamaedorea - dwarf gift, a palm genus, referring to the fact that most species are of short stature and, therefore, their fruit - the gift is found at relatively low heights.
coco - referring to a monkey (fr. Portuguese) Cocos nucifera - the coconut palm, whose nut (fruit) with its three eyes looks to some like a monkey's face. nucifera - nut-bearing.
D
delph - referring to the dolphin, Delphinium, whose flowers supposedly resemble dolphins (can't see it myself).
dactyl - referring to a finger (Phoenix dactylifera, the date palm, finger-bearing, referring to shape of the fruit cluster).
E
equin - / equis - referring to horses. Equisetum, the horsetail genus. Also, equine, equestrian etc.
G
gracil - graceful, slender gracilis / gracilipes - slender + foot / stalk.
L
lavand - referring to the genus Lavandula, the Lavender plant which name, itself, comes from the Latin word to wash, the plant having been used since ancient times in the bath water.
leuc - referring to the color white Leucadendron - silver tree, leuconeura - white-nerved. Some animals such as blackbirds, giraffes and penguins occasionally produce a whitish, but not albino specimen, these are referred to as "leuchistic".
lign - referring to wood, lignosa. The material that forms wood and the woody parts of all plants - even if it doesn't seem that way- like the stringy bits in celery, and lining the water carrying vessels even in delicate leaves, is called "lignin".
lyc - referring to a wolf Lycopersicum (Lycopersicon) - wolf-peach - the tomato; the fruit was once considered poisonous, which is probably the reason for the name.
M
mamm - referring to breasts or nipples (ooh err! missus!) mammifera - breast- bearing breasts or nipples. Mammillaria, a great genus of cactus, because all the bodies of the plants bear many nipple-like protuberances
mel- / mell - referring to honey, melliodora - honey-scented, Melianthus - honey flower. Euphorbia mellifera - the honey spurge, the summer flowers have the smell of honey. Apis mellifera - the honey bee.
O
ob - reverse, inverse, upside down, etc. (obovatus). The Baobab tree of Africa
offic - official, recognized (usually from medicine or commerce) officinalis
P
parthen - referring to a virgin, i.e. asexual reproduction Parthenocissus (Boston Ivy) - virgin's vine. Also aphids undergo something called "parthenogenesis" or "virgin birth". This means that female aphids are already born pregnant ready to give birth to the next generation as soon as possible and totally take over your roses or beans- cunning little varmints!
ped - referring to a foot (shape), or, by extension, a basal structure (pedicillatus - having a stalk) often also mean palmate, which word, itself, refers not to a foot but to a hand, as in a palmate leaf; (Pedilanthus - foot (shoe) flower), one common name is Slipper Spurge (spurge is a general common name applied to many plants in the Euphorbia Family).
phalae - referring to a moth Phalaenopsis - the moth orchid.
phot - referring to light, shining e.g. Photinia, because of the glossy foliage.
ptera - referring to a wing, Pterocarya - winged nut; and Pteris, a genus of ferns, pteranthus - winged flower. Also Pteradactyls group of flying dinosaurs, literally "wing-finger" as the wings were stretched over the fingers of the highly developed hand. Also Greek for a fern, this would seem to have come about via the resemblance of the feather in close-up to a fern frond.
R
rana - referring to a frog, Rana e.g. Ranunculus - little frog, buttercups and related species because most of the species grow where frogs live, i.e., marshes, ponds.
S
salv - referring to helping, saving, healing. Salvia, from the medicinal properties of some species of this the Sage genus.
sagitta - referring to an arrow sagittarius. Usually refers to the pointed shape of leaves e.g. Sagittaria - Arrowhead, a genus of mainly aquatic plants with leaves of a very pronounced arrow shape. Hedera saggitifolia a variety if ivy with pointed leaves.
sino - referring to China, many plant names end in sinensis usually meaning that the particular species was found originally in China. Also chinensis, the number of words for China reflects the great number of garden plants that were originally brought form China by plant collectors who found them in the wild.
U
umbel - referring to umbels, umbellifera - bearing umbels - an umbel is a flower cluster generally in the form of an umbrella, i.e., the flowers radiate from a central point. Cow parsley and the like that have flowers like umbrellas are members.
X
xyl
- referring to wood - Xylobium - wood + life, referring to the epiphytic
habit of these orchids. The woody vessels of plants that carry the water around
the plants is called the "xylem" these are what make woody plants
woody. Trees consist almost entirely of xylem.
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Last updated 18 April 2010 Copyright © Paul Ward 2000 - 2010 |
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About us. General queries and emails to |
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Copyright © Paul Ward 2000 - 2010 |
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About us. General queries and emails to |
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Copyright © Paul Ward 2000 - 2010 |
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