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These word meanings and name derivations of California
plants have been taken from a variety of sources which are listed
on a separate page. I am not an expert in Latin or Greek,
and I make no firm guarantees as to the accuracy or legitimacy
of these definitions. Further, I take no original credit
for the work represented here, and claim merely to have compiled
information from a variety of sources and presented it in one
location. One thing I have done which I have not seen elsewhere
is to include the names of particular plants so that the reader
may investigate some of these name meanings with reference to
the characteristics of a few of those species that possess them.
In addition to those other sources I have relied on, I wish
to acknowledge the work of Dr. Umberto Quattrocchi of Sicily,
whose massive World Dictionary of Plant Names, published
in 4 volumes, includes 22,500 genera and over 200,000 species.
It was only recently that I became aware of this work, and
I have been priviledged through the internet to have made his
acquaintance. I expect I will be relying heavily on his
scholarship, and I thank him for it. I particularly want
to thank David Hollombe of the Santa Monica chapter California
Native Plant Society for his tremendous research and scholarship
and for his numerous invaluable and unfailingly generous biographical
contributions and corrections. I also express appreciation to
Orange County botanist Bob Allen for his help.
A careful peruser of these pages may note different
spellings for the same root word. This is unavoidable whenever
a foreign language is translated into English. In some instances
different references give different derivations for the same name,
reflecting perhaps a certain amount of guesswork. Sometimes
the generic name alludes to a characteristic of a single species
that may have been the first one of its genus to be identified
but is not typical of all its related species, and therefore may
seem oddly chosen. Similarly, a specific name may reflect
a characteristic that is not typical of all known subspecies or
geographical variants. In many cases, the reader will regretfully
be left to guess for him or herself just how these meanings actually
relate to the plant in question. This list should therefore
be considered mainly as an interesting source of information which
may help to illustrate why some plants have the names they do,
and may at least point people in the direction of learning more
about the names of plants.
This website at present contains around 4,000
references. The links at the bottom of the page will take
you to different alphabetical sections of the list, and also to
sections on Southern California plant communities and the development
of botanical nomenclature, as well as a 750-item glossary. It
will be updated periodically as new information becomes available
to me. Depending on what browser you are using, you may or may
not be able to access the names of the photographed flowers at
the top of each section by moving your cursor over the individual
photos. The identifications are also given at the bottom
of each page. Anyone wishing to see more of my photographs
of Southern California flora in a larger format may look at my
other websites, Southern
California Wildflowers and Fall-Blooming
Plants of the East Mojave. You may also click on the highlighted
names of species in this list to go to a photograph or photographs
of that particular species with accompanying botanical information.
I would greatly appreciate being contacted and corrected
with any information contrary or supplemental to that herein noted,
or any sources of information on plant names other than those
listed on the sources page. I would also be glad to receive
any and all suggestions as to how this site could be improved.
If requested, my consent will gladly be given for any non-commercial
use of my photographs. |
