Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names [Softcover reprint of hardcover 1st ed. 2004] 9783642055973, 3642055974

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Urs Eggli . Leonard E. Newton Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names

Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH

Urs Eggli . Leonard E. Newton

Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names

,

Springer

Dr. Urs Eggli Sukkulenten-Sammlung Zürich Mythenquai 88 8002 Zürich Switzerland e-mail: [email protected]

Professor Dr. Leonard E. Newton Department of Botany Kenyatta University P.G. Box 43844 Nairobi 00100 Kenya e-mail: [email protected]

ISBN 978-3-642-05597-3 ISBN 978-3-662-07125-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-07125-0 Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for Bibliographie information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie. detailed bibliographie data are available in the Internet at

This work is subject to copyright. All rights reserved , whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the right s of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitat ion, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way,and storage in data banks . Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its CUTTent version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer-Verlag . Violations are liable for prosecution under the German Copyright Law. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2004 Originally published by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York in 2004. Softcover reprint of the hardcover I st edition 2004

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, ete. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design : design & production GmbH , 69121 Heidelberg, Germany Typesetting: Ready for printing by Urs Eggli; GNU groff (version 1.17.2) on Linux 3113150-WI- 5 4 3 2 1 0 - Printed on acid-free paper

Contents

Preface

VII

Abbreviations

IX

Introduction

XI

References Dictionary

XVII

Preface

Names are important elements to handle the diversity of items in daily life - persons, object s, animal s, plants , etc. Without such names , it would be difficult to attach information to such items and to communicate information about them , and names are usually used without giving them much thought. This is not different for plant s. When dealing with plants, however, it soon become s apparent that the situation is somewhat more complex. Botanists use Latin names to bring order into the vast diversity, while everyday usage resorts to vemacular or "popular" names. As practical as these vernacular name s are (it is not suggested that you should ask your greengrocer for a kilogram of Solanum tuberosum or Musa paradisiaca subsp. sapientum ), their most important drawback is the fact that they vary widely, not only from one language to another but also from country to country, even from region to region within a large country. More importantly, vemacular name s in any given language are usually only available for the plants growing locall y, or for plants of some special importance, such as crops and vegetables, medicinal plants, or important garden plants. For all other plants, the Latin names used by botanists and other scienti sts have to be employed. Such names often appear complicated or even awkward to the ears of those not accustomed to them . Names are best memorized when their meaning is apparent, but the ever dimini shing general knowledge of the classical languages (and here especially Latin) makes the information on the meaning of these scientific names more and more inaccessible. This is the point where the present "Etymological Dictionary" tries to fill a gap. We have tried to give a complete alphabetical list, together with concise explanations, of all the currently accepted name s of succulent plants (including cacti ). This task was greatly facilitated by the publication of the recently completed series "Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants" (Eggli & Hartmann, 2001-2003), and explanations of the etymologie s of all names used in those volumes were originally part of the planned layout. For various reason s, etymological explanations were finally included only for the genu s names, but several authors of the "Handbook" series had already supplied etymological explanation s for the names of species in the group s they contributed. It was therefore an easy decision to continue this work, expand it to cover all accepted name s of succulents (including cacti), and thus provide a standardised set of etymological explanations for this intriguing and highly interesting group of plants. It is our hope that the present etymological dictionary will help towards a better understanding of the scientific names of the plant s covered - for hobby collectors, horticulturists and botanists alike.

Preface

VIII

Acknowledgements

The compilation of this etymological dictionary relied heavily on the data supplied by several authors to the "Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants" series. Our sincere thanks go to E Albers, S. Arroyo-Leuenberger, C. C. Berg, A. Chautems, B. Descoings, S. Carter, P. Forster, G. Germishuizen, H. 't Hart (t), H.-D. Ihlenfeldt, E. van Jaarsveld, M. Kimnach, U. Meve, R. Moran, R. Nyffeler, G. D. Rowley, G. E Smith, J. Thiede, and W. J. de Wilde. Our work to complete and standardise the etymological data, and especially our search for biographical information, was greatly supported by Gordon D. Rowley and Dieter J. Supthut. Others who supplied much valuable information are M. B. Bayer, V. Gapon, M. J. & R. C. Kimberley, A. B. Pullen, L. Springate, and N. P. Taylor. Numerous colleagues have supplied further snippets of information, and we are grateful for an their help. Additional help was also provided by several authors of recently described taxa, as wen as by living persons who were honoured with the name of a plant taxon. Their help is also greatly appreciated. Finally, it is the pleasant duty of one of us (U.E.) to thank the director of the SukkulentenSammlung Zürich, Dr. Thomas Bolliger, as wen as the administration of Grün Stadt Zürich, for permission to use computing infrastructure for the etymological database that was developed during this project. A further word of sincere thanks goes to Springer Verlag, and especially to Dr. Jutta Lindenbom, who favoured the present project and thus enabled this volume to become a companion volume to the "Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants".

Nairobi / Zürich, January 2004

Leonard E. Newton & Urs Eggli

Abbreviations

Arab. C Comp. Dept. Dirn . Di str. E Engl. esp . f. fl. Gen. Germ. Gr. ICBN IHSP ItaI. Lat. m. MLat. N

n. NE NW PI. Provo RBG RSA S SE Span . SuperI. SW syn . USA W

Arabian Central Comparative Department Diminutive District East, eastern English especially fern ale (floruit) flouri shing, active Genitive German Greek International Code of Botanical Nomenclature Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants Italian Latin male Medieval Latin North, northern neuter Northeast, northeastern Northwest, northwestern Plural Province Royal Botanic Gardens Republic of South Africa South, southern Southeast, southeastern Spanish Superlative Southwest, southwestern synonym United States of America West, western

Introduction

Coverage The taxa for which etymologies are supplied in this volume are those accepted in the volumes of the Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plant s (Eggli 2001-2003, Hartmann 2001 and Alber s & al. 2002 ). In the case of the cacti, the list of accepted names was derived from The Cactus Famil y (Anderson 2001) , which in turn is primarily based on the second edition of the CITES Cactaceae Checklist (Hunt 1999). The many synonyms, i.e. names that have gone out of use, are not included here. Deviation s from the sources ju st cited are relativel y minor and can be described as follows: Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plant s (IHSP): With the exception of a couple of correction s of error s and the inclusion of a very few names erroneously not covered in these volumes, there are no deviations. A few of the etymologies for generic name s in the IHSP have been slightly modified. In addition, names of doubtful or uncertain application were included with a short discu ssion and description in the main body of the text in the case of the Aizoaceae, but were listed separately and without explanation in the other four volumes. Consequently, the doubtful names in Aizoac eae are included in our list, unless the discussion in Hartmann (200 1) suggests that they do not belong in the family, whilst those listed in the other volumes are omitted. Many new taxa have been described since the IHSP volumes appeared, and there have also been taxonomic changes for some existing taxa. As the main aim of this book is to explain name s appearing in the Handbook, new combinations are ignored here (though this does not mean that the editors wish to

discredit the publications concerned). If the newly publi shed taxa are interpreted as having at least some standing (at the editors ' discretion), etymologies have been included in this volume. Such taxa were always accepted when they were published by the authority I authorities who contributed the relevant Handbook treatment. The infraspecific taxa (esp. varieties) described as new in recent years are mostly unlikely to be of major taxonomic importance, and these are consequently ignored for this work. Cactaceae: Deviation s from the taxonomy presented by Anderson (200 1) are again relatively few. The most obvious change is the recognition of the gener a Pierrebraun ia, Sulcorebutia and Weingartia (included in the synonymy of Arrojadoa and, respectively for the latter two, in Rebutia). At species level, changes are mostly due to research publi shed subsequently to the compilation of Anderson's book, and usually concern names accepted by Anderson, but which are now recognized as synonyms. This is most notabl y the case for Opuntia. For several of the larger genera, additional infraspecific taxa have been accepted in comparison with the taxonomy by Anderson, again based on recent research. All these changes have been made with the goal of giving an even coverage of etymologies for all relevant taxa, and they reflect on-going research as well as (in some cases) a continuation of current usage. This book covers almost exclusively names of naturally occurring taxa, but not of artificial hybrids or cultivars (garden selections, including selected variants from natural populations, hybrids, and chimaeras). The name s included in this list are those whose formation and use

Introduction are governed by the "International Code of Botanical Nomenclature" or ICBN (Greuter & al. 2000). A cultivar name consists of a botanical name followed by a cultivar epithet enclosed in single quotes, and the application of cultivar epithets is controlled by aseparate code, the "International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants" (Trehane & al. 1995). Cultivar epithets must be words in a modem language, though before this rule was introduced in 1959 some Latin words were used as cultivar epithets, and their continued use is allowed. As they are in single quotes and are not italicised, they should not be confused with botanical epithets .

Sources of Information As indicated in the Preface, many IHSP authors included etymologies in their manuscripts , and these contributions formed the basis of our list. When completing the list we found that many names were without obvious meaning or application, and in such cases reference was made to protologue s, though some uncertainties remain. Secondary sources, especially for biographical data relating to cornmemorative names, included lists of field collectors (e.g. Dorr 1997; Gunn & Codd 1981), obituaries and archival material. The main sources are listed at the end of this Introduction. Many nomenclatural authors give no indication of how they arrived at the name, and even the application of a descriptive epithet is not always obvious from the description of the plant. Very frequently a name commemorates a person about whom absolutely no information is given in the protologue, and in spite of much searching in contemporary literature some of these people remain as shadowy figures of the past, in some cases known only by a surname. The ICBN recommends that authors of new names should include in the protologue the explanation of a name whose meaning is not obvious (Rec. 60H). When observed, this would be a great help to readers. A

XII

further recommendation should be made that authors give some basic biographical information to identify persons commemorated in new plant names.

Nomenclature - Tbe Science of Naming Plants The use of Latin scientific names for plants goes back to medieval times, when Latin was the "lingua franca" of science. Early literature used "phrase names", which were essentially very brief Latin descriptions of the plants . In 1753 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeu s (1707-1778) published a list of plants known at that time, with a single-word "trivial name" for each species in each genus. This was quickly established as a system, still in use today, of giving each species a binomial , i.e. a combination of a generic name followed by a specific epithet. Additional epithets indicate infraspecific taxa, such as subspecies, varieties, or forms. Today, the formation and application of botanical names are governed by the "International Code of Botanical Nomencla ture" or ICBN (see Greuter & al. 2000 for the current edition). This is a set of rules agreed at an international botanical conference, with the aim of ensuring stability in plant nomenclature. The conference is held every six years, and the ICBN is modified slightly at each conference as users find problems or loopholes in applying the rules and propose improvement s. Although often referred to as Latin names, scientific names include many words from classical Greek or from modem language s. Whatever the source , all names are treated as Latin with regard to grammar. Generic names are nouns (substantives ). Epithets may be adjectives, participle s treated as adjectives, or nouns. In Latin there are three genders for nouns, nameiy masculine , feminine and neuter, and in a binomial the epithet must agree with the generic name in gender. For this reason spelling variants occur, though they are essentially the same word, such as albus, alba

Introduction

XIII

and album. These notes on Latin are necessarily brief. For further information on Latin grammar, usage and vocabulary, readers are referred to the excellent book by Stearn (1992a). Botanical names mostly have three derivations. There are descriptive names, referring to some distinctive character of the plant, geographical names, referring to the type 10cality or distribution of the taxon, and commemorative names, based on personal names of people usually associated with the plants in some way. In the case of epithets the ICBN specifies several standard terminations that indicate the nature of the meaning. For example '-ensis' (m., f.) or '-ense' (n.) means "coming from" and indicates geographical origin or distribution. The terminations '-anus', '-inus ' and '-icus' are also used for geographical names, with appropriate gender endings. In substantival commemorative epithets, '-i' or '-ii' is for a man, '-ae' or '-iae' is for a woman, and '-orum ' or '-iorum' is for two or more persons. However, there are exceptions, such as '-ae' for a man whose name ends in 'a ', such as rivae for Riva. Adjectival commemorative epithets may end in '-anus', '-ana' or '-anum ', according to the gender of the generic name. Two frequently used Greek terminations to remember are '-oides' and '-opsis', which mean "resembling" or "looking like". When names are derived from languages other than Latin, the ICBN imposes some standardisation, such as the treatment of accents and umlauts. Complications occur when a personal name is changed. For example, the German is transcribed as oe in plant names, but when Schönland emigrated to an Englishspeaking country, he changed the spelling of his name to Schonland. Epithets based on both spellings have been published, and both are valid. Other cases of possible confusion arise from a lack of standardisation in geographical names, such as Migiurtina and Mijerteina for a Province in Somalia, giving the equally valid epithets migiurtinus and mije rteinus. ö

If a published name does not have the correct spelling as laid down in the ICBN, it is to be corrected, though without a change in authorship. Such corrections must be carried out with care, for the ICBN includes both mandatory rules, called Articles, and Recommendations. However, even some of the Recommendations attached to Article 60, dealing with orthography, are rendered mandatory by statements in other parts of the Article. Thus Art. 60.8 makes Rec. 60G mandatory, and Art. 60.11 makes Rec. 60Cl mandatory. Frequent errors include 'afrus' instead of 'afer' (afer, afra, afrum) and '-ferus' instead of '-fer' (-fer, -fe ra, -ferum). Accordingly Echinocereus stoloniferus had to be corrected to E. stolonifer. As the ending '