Property:Etymology

String

Usage2264

A

Axyris +

Greek axyros (a, not, and xyrios, razor), blunt, not cutting, in reference to the mild taste +

Ayenia +

For Louis de Noailles, 1713 – 1793, first Duc d’Ayen +

Azolla +

Greek azo, to dry, and ollyo, to kill, alluding to death from drought +

B

Baccharis +

For Roman god Bacchus, allusion obscure, perhaps used originally for different plant +

Bacopa +

Aboriginal name in French Guiana +

Bahia +

For J. F. Bahí, 1775–1841, professor of botany at Barcelona +

Bahiopsis +

Generic name Bahia and Greek - opsis, resembling +

Baileya +

For Jacob Whitman Bailey, 1811–1857, researcher of diatomaceous algae at the U.S. Military Academy +

Balduina +

For William Baldwin, 1779–1819, American botanist +

Balsamorhiza +

Greek balsamon, a fragrant gum, and rhiza, root +, alluding to resiniferous rootstocks +

Barbarea +

For Saint Barbara, fourth-century, or perhaps alluding to being the only plants available for food on Saint Barbara’s Day (4 December) +

Barbella +

Latin barba, beard, and - ella, diminutive, alluding to pendent secondary stems +

Barbula +

Latin barba, beard, and -ula, diminutive, alluding to peristome +

Barkleyanthus +

For Theodore M. Barkley, 1934–2004, North American botanist +

Bartlettia +

For John Russell Bartlett, 1805–1886, United States Commissioner of the U.S.-Mexico Boundary Survey +

Bartramia +

For John Bartram, 1699 – 1777, Pennsylvania botanist, horticulturist, and explorer +

Bartramiopsis +

Genus Bartramia and Greek -opsis, resembling +

Bartsia +

For Johann Bartsch, 1709–1738, German physician +

Basiphyllaea +

Greek basis, base, and phyllon, leaf, referring to the single basal leaf +

Bassia +

For F. Bassi, 1710–1774, Italian naturalist +

Bastardia +

For Toussaint Bastard, 1784 – 1846, French botanist +

Batesimalva +

For David M. Bates, b. 1935 American botanist, and Latin malva, mallow +

Batis +

probably from Greek via Latin for another coastal plant, or possibly Greek batos, bramble +

Bebbia +

For Michael S. Bebb, 1833–1895, American botanist and willow specialist +

Begonia +

For Michel Bégon, 1638 – 1710 French governor of Haiti and patron of botany +

Bejaria +

For José Béjar, eighteenth-century professor of surgery at Cádiz, Spain +

Belamcanda +

apparently based on a vernacular name in western India +

Bellardia +

For Carlo Antonio Lodovico Bellardi, 1741–1826, professor of botany at University of Turin +

Bellibarbula +

Latin bellus, beautiful, and genus Barbula +

Bellis +

Latin bellus, pretty +

Beloglottis +

Greek (Latinized) belos, arrow, and glotta, tongue, possibly alluding to sagittate lip +

Benitoa +

For San Benito County, California, alluding to distribution +

Bensoniella +

For Gilbert Thereon Benson, 1896–1928, Stanford University botanist +

Berberis +

Mediaeval Latin barbaris +

Berchemia +

For Jacob Pierre Berthoud van Berchem, eighteenth-century Dutch mineralogist and naturalist +

Bergerocactus +

for Alwin Berger, 1871–1931, German cactologist and horticulturist at La Mortola, Italy, and Cactus, an old genus name +

Bergia +

For Peter J. Bergius, 1730–1790, Swedish botanist and physician, student of Linnaeus +

Berlandiera +

For Jean Louis Berlandier, 1805–1851, Belgian explorer in North America +

Bernardia +

Probably for Bernard de Jussieu, 1699–1777, French botanist +

Berteroa +

For Carlo Giuseppe Bertero, 1789–1831, Italian physician and botanist who settled in Chile +

Bestia +

For George Newton Best, 1846 – 1926 American bryologist +

Beta +

derivation uncertain, possibly from Celtic name for red root +

Betula +

Latin betula, birch +

Bidens +

Latin bis, two, and dens, tooth, alluding to 2-awned pappi of the original species +

Bigelowia +

For Jacob Bigelow, 1787–1879, Massachusetts medical and botanical scholar +

Billieturnera +

For Billie Lee Turner, b. 1925, American botanist +

Bischofia +

For Gottleib Wilhelm T. G. Bischoff, 1797–1854, German botanist +

Bistorta +

Latin, bi -, twice, and tortus, twisted, alluding to the rhizomes of some species +

Blechnum +

Greek blechnon, an ancient name for ferns in general +

Blennosperma +

Greek blennos, mucus, and sperma, seed, alluding to cypselae becoming mucilaginous when wetted +

Blepharipappus +

Greek blepharis, eyelash, and pappos, pappus, alluding to ciliate pappus scales +

Blepharizonia +

Greek blepharis, eyelash, and zona, girdle or ring +, perhaps alluding to rings of ciliate pappus scales, or from generic names Blepharipappus and Hemizonia, alluding to resemblance +

Bletia +

For Luis Blet, a Catalonian apothecary of the eighteenth century who accompanied Ruiz and Pavón on their New World explorations +

Blindia +

For J. J. Blind, pastor at Münster, 1834–1848 +

Bloomeria +

for H. G. Bloomer, 1821–1874, early San Francisco botanist and one-time botanical curator at the California Academy of Sciences +

Blutaparon +

abridged from old Latin name Bulutaparon +

Blysmopsis +

Blysmus, a genus name, and Greek - opsis, likeness +

Blyxa +

Greek blyxo, to gush forth, spout out, bubble up +

Boechera +

For Tyge Wittrock Böcher, 1909–1983, Danish cytogeneticist who worked on subarctic flowering plants +

Boehmeria +

for G. R. Böhmer, German botanist +

Boerhavia +

for Hermann Boerhaave, 1668–1738, physician and botanist of Leiden +

Bolandra +

For Henry Nicholas Bolander, 1831–1897, physician and collector for California State Geological Survey +

Bolboschoenus +

Greek bolbos, a bulb, and schoenos, a rush, reed, in reference to the presence of corms +

Boltonia +

For James Bolton, fl. 1750s–1799, English botanist, artist +

Bonellia +

For Franco Andrea Bonelli, 1784–1830, Italian zoologist +

Bontia +

For Jacobus Bontius, 1592–1631, Dutch physician and botanist in Java +

Borrichia +

For Ole Borch (Olaus Borrichius), 1626–1690, Danish botanist +

Boschniakia +

For Alexander Karlovich Boschniak, 1786–1831, Russian botanist +

Botrychium +

Greek botrychos, stalk of bunch of grapes, and Latin ium, diminutive, alluding to appearance of sporangial clusters on sporophore +

Boykinia +

For Samuel Boykin, 1786–1848, planter, physician, and naturalist of Milledgeville, Georgia +

Brachelyma +

Greek brachys, short, and elyma, veil, alluding to diminutive calyptra +

Brachychiton +

Greek brachys, short, and chiton, tunic, evidently alluding to covering of short hairs on seeds +

Brachydontium +

Greek brachys, short, and odontion, small tooth, alluding to peristome teeth +

Brachymenium +

Greek brachys, short, and hy menion, little membrane, alluding to poorly developed endostome +

Brachystigma +

Greek brachys, short, and stigma, stigma +

Brachytheciastrum +

Genus Brachythecium and Latin - astrum, incomplete resemblance +

Brachythecium +

Greek brachys, short, and theke, case, alluding to capsule +

Bradburia +

For John Bradbury, 1768–1823, English naturalist, collector for the Liverpool Botanic Garden in the Missouri Territory, 1810–1811 +

Brandegea +

For Townshend Stith Brandegee, 1843 – 1925, California botanist, explorer and collector, civil engineer, topographer +

Brasenia +

for Christoph Brasen, 1738-1774, Moravian missionary and plant collector in Greenland and Labrador +

Brassia +

for William Brass, an eighteenth-century British botanical illustrator and collector +

Brassica +

Latin name for cabbage +

Braunia +

For Alexander Carl Heinrich Braun, 1805 – 1877, Director of the Berlin Botanic Garden +

Braya +

For Franz Gabriel de Bray, 1765–1832, French ambassador to Bavaria, head of Regensberg Botanical Society +

Breynia +

For Jacob Breyne, 1637–1697, and his son Johann Philipp Breyne, 1680–1764, Polish botanists +

Brickellia +

For John Brickell, 1748–1809, Irish-born physician and naturalist who settled in Georgia (not John Brickell, 1710?–1745, Irish naturalist who visited North Carolina ca. 1729–1731 and published on the natural history of North Carolina in 1737) +

Brickelliastrum +

Generic name Brickellia and Latin - astrum, indicating inferiority or an incomplete resemblance +

Brintonia +

For Jeremiah Bernard Brinton, 1835–1894, of Philadelphia +

Brodiaea +

for James Brodie, 1744–1824, Scottish cryptogamic botanist +

Brosimum +

Greek brosimos, edible +

Brothera +

For Viktor Ferdinand Brotherus, 1849–1929, Finnish bryologist +

Brotherella +

For Viktor Ferdinand Brotherus, 1849 – 1929, Finnish bryologist +