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Glossary

Species names Genus names After people After places Botanical terms General terms

Some species names

  • Aculeatus - prickly e.g. ruscus aculeatus
  • Adpressa - evergreen or forever living. e.g. taxus baccata adpressa aurea, dwarf golden yew. Also possibly "defying gravity".
  • Ailantifolia - resembling the leaves of tree of heaven (ailanthus altissima). e.g. Juglans ailantifolia.
  • Alatus - winged. e.g. euonymous alatus
  • alba, albo - white
  • Alnifolia - alder like leaves
  • Amabilis - Latin for lovely e.g. Abies amabilis
  • Ambigua - of uncertain parentage
  • Anagyroides - resembling the species Anagyris (which is a yellow-flowered shrub). e.g. laburnum anagyroides
  • Apiculatum - ending abruptly in a short point (leaves)
  • Araliodes - resembling aralia. e.g. trochodendron aralioides wheel tree
  • Argenteum - silver
  • Ascendens - growing upwards
  • Asplenifolia - fern like leaves
  • Atropurpureum - dark purple
  • Atrovirens - darkgreen e.g. Thuja plicata atrovirens
  • Aucuparia - attractive to birds (Latin: auceps - bird catcher, capere - to catch)
  • Aurea - golden e.g. taxus baccata adpressa aurea
  • Australis - southern
  • Babylonica - of Babylon. Linnaeus mistakenly attributed the origin of the weeping willow, Salix babylonica, to Babylon rather than China.
  • Baccata - Latin, 'carrying berries' (bacca is a small berry)
  • Beni - from Japanese, pink
  • Bicolor - two coloured, usually referring to the leaves (top and underneath). e.g. quercus bicolor, the swamp white oak
  • Bimondorum - from two worlds. e.g. Quercus x bimondorum - a cross between USA's Q. alba and Europe's Q. robur
  • Calophytum - from Greek kalo - beautiful, phytum - plant. e.g. rhododendron calophytum
  • Cerasifera - cherry fruit
  • Chamaecyparis -from the Greek Khamai 'on the ground' (ie dwarf) and kuparissos, 'cypress'
  • Chrysolepis - from the Greek chrysos - golden, and lepis - scale. e.g. quercus chrysolepis, the canyon live oak
  • Cissifolium - resembling leaves of Cissus, a genus in the vine family. e.g. Acer cissifolium
  • Clerodendron - from Greek Kleros 'fate' or 'chance' and dendros 'tree'
  • Cordiformis - heart shaped (as in Carya cordiformis, the bitternut)
  • Crassifolium - thick leaved
  • Crataegus - from Greek kratos, strong)
  • Cryptomeria - hidden parts (Greek), referring to the concealed reproductive parts
  • Cucullatum - hood shaped (Latin). e.g. acer platanoides cucullatum
  • Dendron - tree
  • Dentata - toothed e.g. quercus dentata, the daimyo oak
  • Deodara - wood of the gods (from Sanskrit).
  • Distichum - from Latin distichon, meaning two-ranked. e.g. taxodium distichum, the bald cypress, where the leaves grow in two rows.
  • Elaeagnos - from Greek elaia, olive; agnos, pure.
  • Erythroflexuosa - from Greek erythro - red. Flexuosa - bending, flexible. e.g. Salix erythroflexuosa
  • Eugenioides - resembling Eugenia (a separate genus)
  • Fastigiata - upright growth
  • Filbert - a nut, from Norman French, named after St Philbert, whose feast day is 20 August when the nuts were perhaps used in festivities.
  • Filicifolia - cut leaves e.g. quercus robur filicifolia, the cut-leaved oak
  • Flaccida - flaccid, drooping. e.g. juniperus flaccida, the Mexican juniper<
  • Flexilis - flexible (as in pinus flexilis reflexa)
  • Floribunda - many flowered (Latin flor - flower, abunda -copious)
  • Frainetto - a typographical error that has never been corrected: originally it was farnietto that is, 'similar to a small English oak'.
  • fraxinifolia - ash like leaves (e.g. Pterocarya fraxinifolia, the Causcasian wingnut)
  • Gigas - from giga - giant. A variety having larger elements than the type. e.g. populus tremula gigas
  • Glauca, glaucous, glaucescent - bluish grey
  • Glutinosa - sticky, like glue
  • Glypto - carved or sculptured
  • Goshiki - variegated, literally 'five colours' (Japanese)
  • Griseum - grey
  • hana – from Japanese, flower
  • Hana-asobe - from Japanese, playing with flowers
  • Heterophylla - different leaves, referring to different length leaves or needles along a branch
  • Hippophae - 'horse' and phaos = "to shine", due to the ancient Greek use of sea buckthorn leaves as horse fodder to make their coats shine more
  • Hispanica - of Spain
  • Hystrix - porcupine (Greek)
  • Involucrata - an involucre is a ring of bracts around a flower. (Latin)
  • Iophanthus - from Greek iophos, a crest(on a helmet or bird). e.g. paraserianthes iophantha
  • Itosakura - from Japanese, thread cherry. e.g. Prunus itosakura, the Edo Higan or wild spring cherry
  • kiku from Japanese, – chrysanthemum-flowered
  • Koto hime - from Japanese, small harp. e.g. Acer palmatum kotohime, Japanese maple
  • Laciniate - having edges irregularly slashed or cut; roughly fringed
  • Lanceolata - narrow oval shape, tapering to a point at each end
  • Laurocerasus - with laurel like leaves and cherry like fruits
  • Linearilobum - having linear lobes
  • Liriodendron- lily tree
  • Lutescens - living in the marshes e.g. sorbus aria lutescens
  • Macrocarpus - large fruit (Greek)
  • Macropterum - large winged Greek e.g. Acer Heldreichii marcropterum, pterocarya macroptera
  • Mellifera - producing honey Latin e.g. euphorbia mellifera
  • Microphylla - small leaves e.g. azara microphylla
  • Morinda - from Nepalise<
  • Mugo - from Italian mugho, dwarf. eg pinus mugo, dwarf mountain pine
  • Munda - cleanliness or neatness. e.g. sorbus munda, which has pure white berries.
  • Murasaki - from Japanese, purple
  • Multijuga - many yoked (Latin iugum, yoke)
  • Non-scripta - unlettered, or unrecorded, as distinct from the classical version (eg Hyacinthoides non-scripta is the wild bluebell, not the classic hyacinth)
  • Nigra - black
  • Nioi from Japanese, scented
  • Niphophila - from Greek, snow loving. e.g. Eucalyptus pauciflora niphophila, the snow-gum
  • Nitens - from Latin, shining. e.g. eucalyptus nitens
  • Nivalis - of the snow. e.g. Pyrus nivalis, the snow pear.
  • Obliqua - oblique, slanting
  • Omorika - Serbian word for the specific tree, Pancic spruce.
  • Opuluslike a maple (Gaul: opolos)
  • oides - a suffix meaning 'like', cf. oid as in humanoid for eg.
  • Padus - thread e.g. prunus padus, bird cherry
  • Palmatifidum - Having lobes with incisions that extend less than half-way toward the petiole. e.g. acer platanoides palmatifidum
  • Palustris - of marshland or swamps (Latin). e.g. quercus palustris, the pin oak
  • Paniculata - having loose branches of flowers
  • Parviflora - with small flowers (Latin). e.g. Pinus parviflora, Japanese white pine.
  • Pauciflora - few-flowered (Latin). e.g. Eucalyptus pauciflora
  • Patula - with a spreading habit (Latin)
  • Persimilis - very similar (Latin)
  • Petiolaris - 'equipped with a little foot’; referring to the stalk below the leaf
  • Petraea - of rocky places (Latin)
  • Phello - cork (Greek)
  • Phillyreoides - resembling phillyrea latifolia. e.g. quercus phillyreoides
  • Picrasma - from Greek pikras, bitter taste.
  • Pinnate, pinnata - compound leaf that has leaflets arranged in 2 rows either side of a midrib like a feather.
  • Pisifera - pea bearing eg Chamaecyparis pisifera - bears small pea-like cones
  • Pittosporum - pittos - tarry, sporum - seed - a reference to the sticky fluid around the seeds
  • Platyphyllos - having flat leaves
  • Plena - double flowered
  • Plicate, plicata - Arranged in parallel folds or ridges, braided in plaits (e.g. thuja plicata, referring to the plaited needles)
  • Polycarpa - many fruited
  • Porphyrophylla - porphyro - purple (Greek), phylla - leaves. e.g. sambucus nigra porphyrophylla
  • Praecox - precocious, that is, early flowering. e.g. Prunus incisa Praecox
  • Procera - tall
  • pseudoplatanus - "like a plane tree"
  • Pterocarya - wing (ptero), nut (karya). Greek.
  • Quassioides - similar to Quassia, a plant genus named after a former slave from Suriname, Graman Quassi (1692-1787), who discovered the medicinal properties of the bark of Quassia amara.(oides means 'like', cf. oid as in humanoid for eg.)
  • Radiata - for pinus radiata, refers to the cracks which radiate from the umbo of the cone scales
  • Recurva - curved backwards (Latin).
  • Regia - royal. Juglans regia is "the royal nut of Jupiter" (ie the Roman nut, as opposed to the English halzelnut).
  • Rhamnoides - resembling the Rhamnus, referring to the buckthorn plant
  • Robur - hardwood, oak
  • Rosemarinifolia - rosemary like leaves
  • Rostrata - Latin, beaked. e.g. stewartia rostrata (The Himalayan Garden)
  • Rotundifolia - rounded leaves
  • Rufinerve - Latin, red vein. e.g.
  • Sakura - cherry blossom
  • Sativa - cultivated by humans
  • Scoparium - like broom (Latin) e.g. leptospermum scoparium
  • Sempervirens - evergreen
  • Sepulcralis - Latin, pertaining to
  • Serrata, serrula, serrulata - saw toothed edge (usually of leaves)
  • Sessile - without a stalk
  • shidare – from Japanese, weeping
  • Sakura or zakura – cherry
  • Shizuka - Fragrant cloud (Japanese). e.g. Prunus Shizuka
  • Siliquastrum - siliqua are pods e.g. Cercis siliquastrum - the Judas tree
  • sinensis - Chinese
  • spiralis - helically arranged longitudinal epicytic folds
  • Squarrosa - rough with stiff bracts, leaves or scales
  • Staphylea - bladdernut
  • Strobilo, strobus - cone. e.g. pinus strobus, the Eastern White Pine
  • Stroboides overlapping scales
  • Subhirtella - somewhat rough beneath (ie on the leaves)
  • Styraciflua - flowing with resin
  • Tabuliformis - table shaped (e.g. Chinese Pine, pinus tabuliformis)
  • Tenuifolium - tenui thin, folium – leaf. e.g. pittosporum tenuifolium
  • Ternata - in clusters of three (leaflets) e.g. choisya ternata
  • Tobira - from Japanese, roughly translated as 'door tree' as branches were hung over doors the day before spring (Setsubun).
  • Tomentose - densely covered with short matted woolly hairs
  • Torulosus - from ‘torosus’ or ‘torulosus’, which describes a cylindrical structure marked at irregular intervals by swellings or constrictions in a chain-like formation.
  • Trachycarpus - having rough skinned fruit
  • Trefoil - three leaves, or 3-part leaves
  • Triacanthos - from Greek acantha: 3-spined thorn.
  • Trichotomum - divided into three
  • Trifoliate - compound leaf having three leaflets
  • Tuan - the Chinese name for the lime tree. e.g. tilia tuan chenmoui (The Himalayan Garden)
  • Tulipifera - bringing forth tulips
  • Ubame - from Japanese, probably meaning new buds/shoots. e.g. quercus phillyreoides, the ubame oak.
  • Umbraculifera - Latin for shade bearing, an allusion to having ant leaves and huge crown.
  • Utilis - useful (many uses). e.g. betula utilis, Himalayan birch
  • Verecunda - from Latin, shy or modest. e.g. prunus verecunda 'Autumn Glory'.
  • Veris - of spring
  • Viscosa - sticky (Latin viscosus)
  • yae – from Japanese, double-flowered. e.g. Yae-murasaki-zakura - double purple cherry
  • Zakura - cherry blossom
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