e-: without, e.g. epetiolatum, "without petioles," ebracteatus, "without bracts," edentula, "without teeth," ecaudis, "without a tail."

-ea/-eum/-eus: (1) adjectival terminations added to noun roots to denote the material of which a thing is made, sometimes denoting similarity; (2) termination meaning of or pertaning to, when added to form adjectives from names of Greek men; (3) suffix used to designate that a person belongs to some country or town.

eaton'ii: named for Alvah Augustus Eaton (1865-1908), a self-taught American botanist who described many species of pteridophytes, orchids and grasses. He was born in Seabrook, New Hampshire, and moved to a family farm in Salisbury, Massachusetts when he was twelve, and growing up on a farm, developed a sound knowledge of plant cultivation.  He finished a four-year high school education within two years at Putnam School in Newburyport. He worked as a teacher for a year in Seabrook and for three more in California, along with farming. After returning to New England, he decided to develop a florist business due to pressure from poor health  and he also worked as a gardener. For the last six years of his short life Eaton worked for the Ames Botanical Laboratory in North Easton, MA, where he undertook monographic, bibliographic and taxonomic work, and went on three collecting trips to little-explored regions of Florida where he searched for orchids, ferns and woody plants. He also made one trip to Europe. He was a member of the Linnean Fern Chapter, precursor to the American Fern Society, and he served as both its secretary (1898) and president (1899). Contributing papers to the Fern Bulletin from quite early on in his life, he was also an instigator in the creation of the society's pteridophyte herbarium and looked after the collection as its curator from this time until his death. His publications were primarily floristic in nature, describing numerous new species of Equisetum and Isoetes, as well as several grasses. Eaton also left behind two considerable papers in manuscript form at his death. One was a study of the Orchidaceae family, while the other was probably his most important contribution to science, a monograph of the Isoetes of North America. Much of his work is documented at the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University. The documents consist of sixteen notebooks written between approximately 1895 and 1906, four letters from 1899 to 1905, and a few undated manuscripts.

eburn'ea: ivory white.

Echina'cea: hedgehog-like, from Greek echinos, "a hedgehog," alluding to the prickly scales of the receptacle. The genus Echinacea was published in 1794 by Conrad Moench and has been called purple coneflower.

echina'ta/echina'tum/echina'tus: covered with prickles like a hedgehog.

Echinochlo'a: from the Greek echinos for "hedgehog" or "sea-urchin," and chloe or chloa, "grass," referring to the spikelets which are bristly. The genus Echinochloa was published in 1812 by Ambroise Marie François Joseph Palisot de Beauvois and is called barnyard grass or jungle-rice.

Echinocys'tis: from Greek echinos, "a hedgehog," and kystos or kystis, "a sac or bladder," alluding to the hollow prickly fruits. The genus Echinocystis was published in 1840 by John Torrey and Asa Gray and has been called wild cucumber.

Echinodor'us: from the Greek echinos, "a hedgehog," and doros, "a bag or leather bottle," referring to the spiny achenes. The genus Echinodorus was published by Louis Claude Marie Richard in 1815 and is called burhead.

E'chinops: from the Greek echinos, "a hedgehog or sea-urchin," and ops, a suffix intended to indicate resemblance or like appearance. The genus Echinops was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

echio'ides: resembling genus Echium.

Ech'ium: from the Greek echis, "a viper," the nutlets appearing to represent a viper's head. The genus Echium was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

ecirra'ta: same as ecirrhosus, lacking tendrils, from e-, "without," and cirrata, "equipped with tendrils," and from cirrus, "a curl of hair."

Eclip'ta: from the Greek ekleipo meaning "deficient," and referring to the absence of a pappus. The genus Eclipta was published in 1771 by Carl Linnaeus and is called false daisy.

eden'tula: without teeth.

effu'sum/effu'sus: Stearn's Dictionary says "loosely spreading, straggling, spread out." CasaBio says from the Latin effusus, "vast, wide, spread-out, disorderly or sprawling".

Eger'ia: FNA says this name derives from the Latin egeri, a water nymph, in reference to an aquatic habitat. In mythology Egeria was a nymph attributed a legendary role in the early history of Rome as a divine consort and counselor of Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome, to whom she imparted laws and rituals pertaining to ancient Roman religion. Her name is used as an eponym for a female advisor or counselor. The genus Egeria was published by Jules Émile Planchon in 1849 and is called South American waterweed.

Eichhorn'ia: named for Johann Albrecht Friedrich Eichhorn (1779-1856), Prussian Minister of Education and Public

Welfare from 1840 to 1848 appointed by Frederick William IV, court advisor and politician. He attended school in Wertheim and studied law in Göttingen from 1796 to 1799. After that he was steward of the von Auer family in Kleve for a short time, and from 1800 was ascultator (the first stage of three levels in the legal system after university) in the local high court. He was also a regimental quartermaster in the local Graf Wedel battalion, then was transferred to Hildesheim in 1802 where he was active in the Supreme Court. In 1806 Eichhorn passed the major state examination and became a court judge in

Berlin, but three years later was involved with Wilhelm von Dornberg in the resistance to the Napoleonic occupation. He joined Ferdinand von Schill's Freikorps, but left after an accident. For the next several years he was involved in ongoing political and military activities against the French. From 1810 he was a member of the Superior Court of Justice in Berlin and from 1811 he was also syndic of the newly founded university. In 1813 he was a member of the committee for the organization of the Landwehr and took part in the staff of Blücher at the beginning of the wars of liberation. In the same year he became a member of the central administration department for the occupied territories under Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom Stein. He was appointed as a diplomat to Paris in 1815 and then was appointed Privy Legation Counselor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this capacity he was responsible for German affairs from 1817 and was appointed lecturer. Eichhorn played an important role in the establishment of the Zollverein or German Customs Union, which was an association of states that in some ways predated the modern European Union and was intended to create an economic single market and to standardize fiscal and economic conditions. States that originally and eventually joined the Union included the Grand Duchy of Hesse, Kurhessen, Bavaria, Württemberg, Saxony, the Thuringian states, Baden, Nassau, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Brunswick, Lippe, Hannover and Oldenburg. From 1817 to 1848 he was a member of the Prussian Council of State. In 1831 he was promoted to director of the second department of the foreign office and in 1840 Friedrich Wilhelm IV surprisingly appointed him Minister of Education ("Minister of Spiritual, Educational and Medical Affairs"). In 1850 he took part in the Erfurt Union Parliament as a member of the House of States and was its senior president. The botanist Karl Sigismund Kunth in 1843 published in his honor the plant genus of water hyacinths under the name Eichhornia. The University of Göttingen granted him in 1837 an honorary doctorate of law. He was the author of Die central-verwaltung der verbündeten unter dem freiherrn von Stein published in 1814. Friedrich Eichhorn died in Berlin in 1856 at the age of almost 77.

Elaeag'nus: from the Greek elaia, "olive," and agnos, "pure, the chaste-tree," referring to the resemblance of the fruit and foliage to a true olive. The genus Elaeagnus was published in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus and has been called silverberry, oleaster and russian olive.

ela'ta: tall.

Elat'ine/elat'ine: an ancient Greek name for some low creeping plant. Umberto Quattrocchi says of the origins of this name: "From elatine (elate, 'the pine, the fir, ship, Abies,' and elatinos, 'of the pine or fir, of pine or fir-wood'), ancient Greek name used by Dioscorides and Plinius perhaps for Linaria spuria, the cankerwort." And Flora of North America just says: "Greek name for a plant with fir-like leaves."The genus Elatine was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called waterwort.

elatius: taller, comparative of elatus, "tall."

Eleo'charis: from the Greek heleos or helos, "a marsh, low ground, meadow," and charis, "grace, beauty," hence "marsh grace," alluding to a flooded field habitat. The genus Eleocharis was published by Robert Brown in 1810 and is called spikerush.

Elephan'topus: Wikipedia says "The genus name Elephantopus comes from the Greek words elephantos, "elephant," and pous, "foot." The term likely refers to the large basal leaves of some members of the genus." The genus Elephantopus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called elephant's-foot.

Eleu'sine: from Umberto Quattrocchi's World Dictionary of Plant Names: "From Eleusis, a very ancient city and deme (a township or division, a commune) of Attica, famous for the mysteries of Ceres, about 14 miles northwest of Athens; to the west of the town lay the Rharian, where Demeter, the Greek goddess of earth's fruits, was said to have sown the first seeds of corn; Demeter (Ceres for the Romans) was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and sister of Zeus, by whom she became the mother of Persephone." The genus Eleusine was published by Joseph Gaertner in 1788 and is called goosegrass or yard grass.

-el'la/-el'lum/-el'lus: Latin ellus, a suffix added to noun stems to form diminutives.

elliot'tii: named for Stephen Elliott (1771-1830), an American legislator, banker, educator, and botanist who is today

remembered for having written one of the most important works in American botany, A Sketch of the Botany of South-Carolina and Georgia.  He was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, and grew up there, later moving to New Haven, Connecticut, to attend Yale University for a study of the classics. He graduated in 1791 as the valedictorian of his class. From Yale, he returned to South Carolina to work the plantation that he had inherited. At some point in the 1790s he was elected to the legislature in South Carolina and served for several years, then returned to the management of his plantation. He was

re-elected to the legislature in 1808 and sought to have a bank established by the state, and when that was founded in 1812, he resigned from the legislature to be appointed president of what was then called the "Bank of the State of South Carolina," a position that he held for the rest of his life. He cultivated the study of botany with much enthusiasm, and was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1808. In 1813 he was instrumental in founding the Literary and Philosophical Society of South Carolina, of which he became President. He gave free lectures on botany, and was for some time editor of the Southern Review. In 1825 he aided in establishing the Medical College of South Carolina, and was elected professor of natural history and botany, which he taught until his death in 1830. Elliott engaged in a long and active correspondence with many of the botanists of his time, and the material that he collected on numerous field trips and his intimate knowledge of the southeastern flora was of great value to botanists elsewhere. Elliott's herbarium was one of the largest in America during his lifetime, and its specimens proved invaluable to John Torrey, Asa Gray, and others. The herbarium is preserved at the Charleston Museum. His classic work, A Sketch of the Botany of South-Carolina and Georgia was by far the most complete flora of the region to date containing as it did the first botanical descriptions of many species. Initially published in several installments from 1816 to 1824, these were later combined into two volumes: volume I in 1821 and volume II in 1824. Elliott's attention was not confined to botany either, and he was very knowledgeable in the fields of ichthyology, conchology and entomology as well. In 1900, the journal Science described him as "the father of southern botany." Elliott also served as President of the Charleston Library Society, the South Carolina College and the Philosophical Society of Charleston, and was a member of the American Philosophical Society and the Linnaean Society in Paris. Beyond this he was elected President of the University of South Carolina from 1824 until his death in Charleston. He was honored by the genus name Elliottia  which was published in 1818 by Gotthilf Henry Muhlenberg.

ellip'tica/ellip'ticum: elliptical, about twice as long as wide, oblong with rounded ends, from Greek elleipsis, "a falling short, defect."

Ellis'ia: named for John Ellis (1710-1776), businessman, natural historian, politician and fellow of the Royal Society of London. The Dictionary of National Biography includes this: “Ellis, whom Linnæus termed a 'bright star of natural history' and 'the main support of natural history in England,' was born in Ireland about 1710. Ellis was in business as a merchant in London with only moderate success, until in 1764 he obtained the appointment of agent for West Florida, to which was added in 1770 the agency for Dominica. This brought him many correspondents, and he used his opportunities to import various American seeds. In 1754 he became a fellow of the Royal Society, and in the following year established his reputation as one of the most acute observers of his time by the publication of An Essay towards the Natural History of the Corallines. This work was translated into French in the following year, and he established by it the animal nature of this group of organisms. In 1768 the Copley medal of the Royal Society was awarded to Ellis for these researches. In 1770 he published Directions for bringing over Seeds and Plants from the East Indies. In the fifty-first volume of the Philosophical Transactions he described the new genera Halesia and Gardenia, and in the sixtieth volume the genus Gordonia, These were followed in 1774 and 1775 by descriptions of the coffee-tree, the mangostan, and the breadfruit, all alike marked by that thoroughness from which it has happened that none of his genera have been superseded.” A Loyola University Chicago article entitled “Some Aspects of the Life and Work of John Ellis, King’s Agent for West Florda 1763-1776” provides the following information. He was associated with the Irish Linen Board and was a successful selling agent of linen for Lord Limerick and a lobbyist in the English Parliament. Ellis began his scientific work in the 1740s and continued his research and writing on natural history until his death. Ellis was also very interested in economic botany and in assisting the American colonial farmer by introducing plants from other parts of the world into colonial agriculture. With the cooperation of Henry Ellis, Governor of Georgia, experiments were initiated and carried to a successful conclusion demonstrating a practical method for the transporting of seeds in a viable state over long distances and time spans. In addition, he promulgated an extensive list of plants that, in his opinion, could survive and flourish in the soil and climate of the American colonies. During the course of his zoological and botanical investigations, he had recourse to the use of the microscope and ultimately instituted several improvements in that instrument that were of major importance, leading to the development of the dissecting microscope universally used in modern educational institutions. He was married in 1754 but his wife died in childbirth four years later. Linnæus named a group of boraginaceous plants Ellisia in his honor.

Elo'dea: from the Greek helos, "marsh," or helodes, "marshy," relating to the habitat. The genus Elodea was published by André Michaux in 1803 and is called waterweed.

elonga'ta: elongate, lengthened.

El'ymus: from the Greek word elymos for "millet," in turn from elyo, "to cover." The genus Elymus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called wild rye.

em'ersum: rising out (of the water), from the Latin emersus, "emerging." The species Sparganium emersum in the cat-tail family has a habitat preference, according to the Flora of Virginia, of bogs, peaty beaver wetlands, and calcareous marshes. Other sources such as Minnesota Wildflowers describe it as being a resident of clear lakes, ponds and slow-moving rivers, usually in less than 2 feet of water.

em'monsii: named for Ebenezer Emmons (1799-1863), American educator, physician and geologist whose work included

the naming of the Adirondack Mountains in New York. He was born at Middlefield, western Massachusetts, and entered Williams College at age 16 graduating with a degree in medicine in 1818. He went on to study medicine at Albany, New York. After graduating, he practiced as a doctor in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. He eventually attended the Rensselaer School (now Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) for geology. There, he was inspired by professor Amos Eaton, and graduated in the first class in 1826. While giving much of his time to natural science at Williams College, he also

became a professor in chemistry and later obstetrics at Albany Medical College. In 1836, he became attached to the Geological Survey of the State of New York, and began his work on Paleozoic stratigraphy. He was the first discoverer of the primordial fauna in any country. He gave the Adirondacks their name in 1838. The name "Adirondacks" is an Anglicized version of the Mohawk ratirontaks, meaning "they eat trees," a derogatory name the Mohawks historically applied to neighboring Algonquian tribes due to their practice of eating the buds and bark of trees when food was scarce. During these major studies he became embroiled in a controversy with New York State Geologist James Hall regarding the age of the rocks in the Adirondacks and the Taconic Mountains, which he had also named. Emmons held that they were of Cambrian age, but Hall was convinced that they were Ordovician. As a result of the dispute, Emmons was banned from the practice of geology in the state of New York and left the state. He sued Hall for slander and libel. In 1851, after losing the lawsuit, Emmons was hired by the state of North Carolina for the newly created position of State Geologist. He continued in that position until his death in 1863, at his plantation in Brunswick County, North Carolina. Emmons was later shown to have been correct. Under his direction, botanist Moses Ashley Curtis wrote two volumes of descriptive botany of the state, and agriculturalist Edmund Ruffin prepared a description of the agriculture and geology of lower North Carolina. During these busy years, Emmons also found time to publish a major book entitled American Geology and, in 1860, a brief text and manual on the subject. He was also the author of Agriculture of New York and Agriculture of North Carolina. In addition, he served as private consultant to individuals involved in mining metals in the state. The Civil War shattered Emmons's life and much of his work. Loyal to the Union, he was caught in the South. Anxiety and separation from friends probably fostered the ill health that eventually confined him to his home in Brunswick County, where he died in 1863. He was buried in the City Cemetery, Raleigh, but his remains later were moved to Albany, N.Y. During the war much of the work of Emmons and his assistants was lost, including personal papers (after his death), cabinets of minerals and fossils, manuscript geological maps, and written manuscripts sufficient for several volumes.

em'oryi: named for Maj. William Hemsley Emory (1811-1887), Army officer and Director of the Mexican Boundary

Survey. He was born in Maryland of wealthy and socially prominent parents, the inheritor of an aristocratic tradition of soldiers, his grandfather having fought during the Revolution and his father during the War of 1812. As a boy, he was close friends with such future notables as President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston and Senator, Speaker of the House and presidential candidate Henry Clay. In 1823, with the help of John C. Calhoun, a close friend and business colleague of his father, he received assurances of an appointment to West Point, entering

the school in 1827 and graduating in 1831. He served at a number of different posts during the next five years culminating with his involvement in the removal of the Creek Indian nation from Georgia to the Indian Territory. In 1836 the Secretary of War invited him to become an assistant United States civil engineer and he resigned his Army commission. When the Corps of Topographical Engineers was established in 1838 directly under the Secretary of War, Emory was one of those who were recruited by Col. John J. Abert, Chief of the Topographic Bureau of the Army, and he returned to service and was recommissioned as a 1st Lieutenant. That was a notable year also because he married Matilda Wilkins Bache of Philadelphia, the great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin. He worked on a variety of projects, then in 1843 was made an assistant in the Topographic Bureau in Washington. He conducted boundary surveys along the Texas-Mexican border in 1844, producing a new map of Texas. From 1844 to 1846 he was part of the Northeastern boundary survey assigned the difficult task of surveying the border between the U.S. and Canada, a job which won him acclaim and respect, and enhanced his reputation as a skillfull and meticulous surveyor. He served during the Mexican War (1846-1848) as chief topographical engineer first on the staff of General Stephen Kearny, and then as second-in-command of a regiment of Maryland volunteers. From 1848 to 1853 he conducted a boundary survey along the United States-Mexican border, and then surveyed the Gadsden Purchase from 1854 to 1857. He was an excellent cartogropher and the accuracy of many of his maps rendered previous ones obsolete. He was a brigade, division and corps commander during the Civil War, rising to the eventual rank of Major-General, and performed competently yet without great distinction. He held mostly administrative and Department command positions after the war, and retired in 1876. His marriage produced 10 children and he died in 1887. [Information mostly from The Handbook of Texas Online by the Texas State Historical Association and from the University of Arizona Press]

Endode'ca: derivation and meaning unknown, but the root endo- usually means "within," and -deca means "ten." Endodeca is just one of the many genera named in 1828 by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque who was notorious for not explaining what the names he chose meant. It has been called turpentine-root.

Ene'mion: "Enemion is thought to refer to the Greek term anemos, which means wind..." according to the website Cosewic (Comittee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) Assessment and Update Status Report on the False Rue-Anemone. I find it curious that the common name, false rue-anemone, relates to the actual rue-anemone, which is Thalictrum thalictroides (previously Anemonella thalictroides which certainly derives its name from anemos) and one of whose common names is windflower. Enemion is a closely related member of the same family, Ranunculaceae, and is almost an anagram of 'anemone.' However, Rafinesque who published the name in 1820 explained it as having to do with the species Anenome quinquefolia (wood anenome, also in the Ranunculaceae) because of the size and similarity of the flowers. The genus is called isopyrum.

engelmann'ii/engelmannia'na: named for George Engelmann (1809-1884), a German-born St. Louis physician and botanist,

and prolific author on cacti, North American conifers and oaks. He was educated at the gymnasium in Frankfurt and then at the University of Heidelberg, the University of Berlin and the University of Wurzburg where he received his M.D. degree. His dissertation was on plant morphology, mainly to the structure of monstrosities and aberrant forms of plants. Like many other famous botanical explorers and collectors, he had begun his career in medicine, but soon was spending more time with his plants. In 1832 he went to Paris where he made contact with Louis Agassiz. He then accepted a proposition from

his uncles to act as their agent in the purchase of land in the United States in late 1832. Botany was always high in his thoughts and he visited Thomas Nuttall in Philadelphia, then went to St. Louis and eventually settled with his relatives on a farm near Belleville, Illinois. He became a conduit between plant collectors in the West and professors John Torrey and Asa Gray in the East. He travelled around Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas doing mineralogical and geological work in addition to botanical collections. He sent out fellow Germans like Augustus Fendler to explore little known western regions, supplying them with collecting materials and money. John C. Fremont visited him to learn about plant collecting before embarking on his western explorations. He botanized with Charles Parry in Colorado and with Asa Gray in Virginia. His association with the Englishman Henry Shaw, who resided in St. Louis and dreamed of building a Kew Gardens in the New World, resulted in Shaw's Garden, now world famous as the Missouri Botanical Garden. In 1835 he moved to St. Louis and established a medical practice and the next year founded a German newspaper called Das Westland the reputation of which spread from America to Europe. In 1840 he went back to Germany and got married, and upon his return he met the eminent botanist Asa Gray and formed a friendship that lasted throughout his life. At that time there were a large number of French- and German-speaking residents of St. Louis and his familiarity with those languages was a great advantage in his medical practice. Wikipedia says: In 1859, he published Cactaceae of the Boundary which studied cacti on the border of the United States and Mexico. He also made special studies of the pines, rushes, spurges, and other little-known and difficult groups, contributing numerous articles on them to the St. Louis Academy of Sciences, to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and to government reports. Material in his specialties collected by the federal government was sent to him for examination. He was one of the earliest to study the North American vines, and nearly all that is known scientifically of the American species and forms is due to his investigations. His first monograph on The Grape-Vines of Missouri was published in 1860, and his latest on this subject shortly before his death. His two major works on cacti remain important today. He was a founder and longtime president of the St. Louis Academy of Sciences, and encouraged the wealthy St. Louis businessman Henry Shaw to develop his gardens to be of scientific as well as public use. On a visit to England in 1857, he consulted with William Jackson Hooker on the establishment of Shaw's gardens. He was also one of the original founders of the National Academy of Science. In the 1870s he played a significant role in rescuing the French wine industry which was suffering due to a small pest and he was responsible for shipping millions of shoots and seeds of pest-resistant American vines to France. His valuable botanical collection was given to the Missouri Botanical Garden. He was honored with the names of several plants.

ensifo'lium: with sword-shaped leaves.

-ensis: a Latin adjectival suffix used to indicate belonging to, country of origin, place of growth or habitat (e.g. chilensis, "from Chile"; pratensis, "growing in meadows," from pratum, "meadow"; mohavensis, "from the Mojave"; arvensis, "growing in fields," from arvum, "field"; canadensis, "from Canada", etc.).

-en'tus: a Latin suffix meaning "abounding in or full of," e.g. gracilentus, succulentus.

epetiola'tum: lacking petioles.

Epifa'gus: from Greek epi meaning "on" or "upon," and Fagus which is the genus name of the beech. The genus Epifagus was published by Thomas Nuttall in 1818 and is called beechdrops.

Epigae'a: from Greek epi, "upon," and gaia, "the earth," alluding to its creeping habit.

epihy'drus: of or upon a water surface.

Epilo'bium: from 2 Greek words epi, "upon," and lobos, "a pod or capsule," as the flower and capsule appear together, the corolla being borne on the end of the ovary. The genus Epilobium was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called willow-herb.

Epipac'tis: either from the Greek epipaktis or epipegnuo, the name adopted for this genus which was originally called hellebore, and which refers to a milk-curdling property claimed for some species. The genus Epipactis was published by Johann Gottfried Zinn in 1757 and is called helleborine.

epling'ii: named for Carl Clawson Epling (1894-1968), prominent botanist, taxonomist and authority on the Lamiaceae

of the Americas. He was born in Waverly, Illinois, although he spent his youth in California and remained in that state for most of his life. He was a graduate of Los Angeles High School, Los Angeles Normal School, and served in the U.S. Army from 1917 to 1919. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, College of Agriculture, where he earned an A.B. degree in 1921, and then received a Master’s degree from Washington University, St. Louis, in 1923 and a Ph.D. from the Henry Shaw School of Botany at Washington University in 1924, writing a thesis on the genus Monardella. Between his A.B.

and his Ph.D. he was a botany instructor for a year at Oregon State College, and then worked as an agent with the Office of Blister Rust Control of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He became staff member at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1924, and helped to found the UCLA herbarium. From 1927 to 1928 he was granted a National Research Council fellowship for study in Europe, following which he was an assistant professor and then an associate professor of botany at UCLA. In 1941, he was made a faculty research lecturer at UCLA. From 1944 until his retirement, he held the title of systematist in the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Agricultural Experiment Station. He was also a researcher in population genetics. Though his collecting focus was largely on North America, in the 1960s he carried out fieldwork in northwestern Ecuador, depositing his collections at the University of California herbarium at Berkeley, and wrote extensively about Lamiaceae in South America. At the time of his death he was studying the flora of Ecuadorian rain forests. He is best known for being the major authority on the Lamiaceae (mint family) of the Americas from the 1920s to the 1960s, and he also developed an interest in genetics and evolutionary mechanisms. Epling had a prolific research record and his research publications number over one hundred; many remain standard works in the field. He was a founder of the Society for the Study of Evolution and a charter member of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. Epling died in Santa Monica after increasing periods of ill health that nevertheless hardly kept him from his researches.

equiseto'ides: resembling genus Equisetum.

Equise'tum: Latin for "horsetail" from equus, "horse," and seta, "bristle." The genus Equisetum was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Eragros'tis: the common explanation of this name including that given by Stearn, Gledhill and SEINet, is that it derives from the Greek eros, "love," and agrostis, "grass," of unknown application but giving the genus its common name of "lovegrass." However, according to Umberto Quattrocchi, others have suggested that it actually derives from the Greek era, "earth." Buttressing this argument, Jaeger's Source-Book of Biological Names and Terms specifically gives Eragrostis as an example for the meaning of era as "earth or field," which makes much more sense since many of the species of this genus, especially the 90 or so from southern Africa, are inhabitants of pastures and fields. It's possible therefore that the name "lovegrass" is a misnomer and should probably be "earthgrass." FNA provides this perspective: "Nathaniel Wolf, the person who first named Eragrostis in 1776, made no statement concerning the origin of its name. Harold Trevor Clifford [in his Etymological Dictionary of Grasses, 1996] provides three possible derivations: (1) from eros, 'love', and Agrostis, the Greek name for an indeterminate herb; (2) from the Greek er, "early" and agrostis, "wild," referring to the fact that some species of Eragrostis are early invaders of arable land; or (3) the Greek eri-, a prefix meaning 'very' or 'much', suggesting that the name means many-flowered Agrostis. Many authors have stated that the first portion of the name is derived from eros, but none has explained the connection between Eragrostis and passionate expressions of love, the kind of love to which eros applies." I think Quattrocchi and Jaeger's explanations are more compelling and likely, but this will probably remain an uncertainty.

Eran'this; from the Greek er, "spring," and anthos, "flower," for plants that are one of the earliest blooming in the spring.

Erechti'tes: FNA says a name mentioned by Dioscorides, presumably for a plant now referable to Senecio or a related genus. And Merriam-Webster says from Greek erechthitis, "groundsel," from erechthein, "to rend, break." The genus Erechtites was published by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1817 and is called fireweed or burnweed.

erec'ta/erec'tum/erec'tus: upright, erect.

Eremochlo'a: from eremos, "lonely, solitary, deserted,"and chloe, chloa, "the young shoots of grass," perhaps alluding to its arid habitat, or to its inflorescence which is a single spike. The genus Eremochloa was published by Lodewijk Hendrik Buse in 1854 and is called centipede grass. This perennial grass spreads by stolons, and the stolons have a creeping growth habit with rather short upright stems that resemble a centipede, hence the name.

Erian'thus: woolly-flowered. from the Greek eri, "wool," and anthos, "flower," a genus of reedlike grasses having spikes crowded in a panicle clothed with long silky hairs. The genus Erianthus was published by André Michaux in 1803 and was called plume grass.

erico'ides: resembling genus Erica.

Erigen'ia: Greek for "born in the spring." The genus Erigenia was published in 1818 by Thomas Nuttall. One of the common names of Erigenia bulbosa is harbinger-of-spring.

Erig'eron: from the Greek eri, "early," and geron, "old man," thus meaning "old man in the spring," referring to the fluffy, white seed heads and the early flowering and fruiting of many species. The genus Erigeron was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called fleabane referring to the plant's odor which according to some can repel fleas.

erioceph'ala: woolly-headed.

Eriochlo'a: from the Greek erion, "wool," and chloe or chloa, "grass," thus "woolly grass." The genus Eriochloa was published by Karl Sigismund Kunth in 1815.

Erio'gonum: it has been said that this generic epithet stems from the Greek erion, "wool," and gonu, "joint or knee," in reference to the hairy or woolly joints of some of the species of the genus. Michaux's description of the plant in his publication of 1803 was based on a single species because that was all he had. David Hollombe has interpreted his explanation of the name as meaning "both woolly and geniculate, rather than plant with woolly joints." Wikipedia says the same: "The author of the genus, Michaux, explained the name as describing the first named species of the genus (E. tomentosum) as a woolly plant with sharply bent stems ("planta lanata, geniculata"). The genus is called wild buckwheat.

Eriophor'um: bearing wool. The genus Eriophorum was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called cottongrass, cottonsedge or bogwool.

Ero'dium: from the Greek erodios, "a heron," due to the long beak on the fruit that gives rise to some of its common names such as storksbill and cranesbill, a meaning reinforced by the family name Geranium, the derivation of which is geranos, "crane."  The genus Erodium was published by Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle in 1789. The genus is also called filaree.

erostella'ta: a combination of ero meaning "lesser, smaller, or very rarely," and stellata means "starred or star-shaped" or relating to stars, together probably translating to small stars, which may reference the small bright white flowers resembling tiny stars.

eruca'go: Eruca-like.

Eryn'gium: ancient Greek name used for a spiny-leaved plant either by Theophrastus or Dioscorides. The genus Eryngium has been called eryngo and rattlesnake-master and was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Erys'imum: from the Greek eryomai, "to help or save," because some of the species supposedly had a medicinal value, although other sources say it comes from the Greek eryo, "to drag." Another source says it comes from erno, "to draw up," although this seems very unlikely, and Desert USA says that it derives from the name erysimon meaning "biennial and perennial herbs." Erysimum is an alternate name for blistercress, and was a plant known to Pliny the Elder. The genus Erysimum was originally described by Linnaeus in 1753 but then was validly published by Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze in 1891. The genus is called wallflower or treacle mustard.

eryth'ro-: in compound words signifies red (e.g. erythrocarpus, "having red fruits," erythrocephalus, "red-headed" ).

erythrocar'pum: having red fruits.

Erythro'nium: Stearn says from Greek erythronion from erythros, "red," alluding to the pink to purple flowers of Erythronium dens-canis. Also the name of a chemical formerly called Erythronium and now called Vanadium most of whose salts turn red when heated. The genus Erythronium was published by Carl Linnaeus and is variously called trout lily, dog's-tooth violet or adder's tongue.

erythropo'da: having a red foot or stem.

erythrorhi'zos: having red roots. The species Cyperus erythrorhizos is commonly called redroot flatsedge.

erythrosor'a: having red spore cases.

erythrosper'mum: having red seeds.

erythrostic'tum: from the roots erythro-, "red," and stiktos, "punctured, dotted, dappled," thus with red dots.

-escens: like -ascens, a Latin adjectival suffix used to impart the sense of a process of becoming or developing (e.g. rubescens, "reddish or becoming red," from ruber, "red"; senescens, "aging or becoming aged," from senex, "old"; canescens, "becoming gray"; frutescens, "becoming shrubby", etc.). Often corresponding to the English "-ish."

esculen'ta/esculen'tum/esculen'tus: esculent, edible.

-estre/-estris: a Latin adjectival suffix that signifies "belonging to," "loving," or "living in" (e.g. alpestris, "of the mountains"; rupestris, "rock-loving", from rupis, "a rock"; sylvestris, "of the woods," from sylva, "a wood;" terrestris, from terra, "of the earth.")

esu'la: Gledhill says an old generic name in Rufinus for a spurge. This may refer to Tyrannius Rufinus, also called Rufinus of Aquileia (Rufinus Aquileiensis) (344/345–411), who was a monk, philosopher, historian, writer and theologian who worked to translate Greek patristic material, especially the work of Origen, into Latin. A website called the Free Dictionary says the epithet esula derives from Middle English, in turn from from Old French espurge, from espurgier, "to purge," from its use as a purgative, from Latin expūrgāre, "to expurgate."

etubercula'tus: without tubercles or warty excrescences.

eu-: good, well, true, nice. It's difficult to say exactly what meaning the use of this root has for any particular name. For example, the Jepson Manual gives 'strongly nettle-like' for the genus Eucnide, 'true cap' for Eucalyptus, 'good head' for Eucephalus, 'true tunic' for Euchiton, 'well crowded' for Euthamia, 'tightly shut' for Euclidia, 'well hidden' for Eucrypta, 'well lobed' for Eulobus and 'good name' for Euonymus.

Eubo'trys: from the Greek eu-, "good or well," and botrys, "a bunch," alluding to capsules in tight racemes. Common names include fetterbush, swamp deciduous dog laurel, sweetbells lecothoe, and my favorite, dog-hobble, so called because its arching branches often root at their tips, creating an extensive tangle that can be all but impenetrable. The genus Eubotrys was published in 1842 by Thomas Nuttall.

Euon'ymus: Flora of North America says "from the Greek eu, "good," and onoma, "a name," apparently applied ironically, the genus having had the bad reputation of poisoning cattle. The genus Euonymus was published in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus and is called spindle tree or strawberry-bush.

eupatorio'ides: like genus Eupatorium.

Eupator'ium: from the Greek name Mithridates VI, aka Eupator Dionysius (c.132-63 BC), King of Pontus and Armenia

Minor in northern Anatolia (now Turkey) from about 120–63 BC who is said to have discovered an antidote to a commonly used poison in one of the species. After the assassination of his father and while still a youth, he supposedly spent seven years living in the wilderness, and regularly ingested sub-lethal doses of toxic substances to the point where he believed he had developed an antidote and could not be poisoned. The Kingdom of Pontus before the rule of Mithridates occupied a coastal area southeast of the Black Sea and along the eastern coast and mostly surrounding the Sea Of Azov and the Crimea, and

during his rule it was extended greatly in area south to the Mediterranean and west to what is now Istanbul and the Aegean Sea. Mithridates was considered one of the Roman Republic’s most formidable and successful enemies, who engaged three of the prominent generals from the late Roman Republic in the Mithridatic Wars: Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Lucius Licinius Lucullus and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Some of these engagements were successful and some not. He has been called the greatest ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus. According to Pliny the Elder, Mithridates was a polyglot who could speak the languages of all twenty-two of the nations he governed. He had several wives including his first who was his sister, and since he claimed ancestry from the Persians he named a number of his sons after the great Persian rulers like Xerxes, Darius and Cyrus. The manner of his death seems quite ironic. Wikipedia says: "After Pompey defeated him in Pontus, Mithridates VI fled to the lands north of the Black Sea in the winter of 66 BC in the hope that he could raise a new army and carry on the war through invading Italy by way of the Danube. His preparations proved to be too harsh on the local nobles and populace, and they rebelled against his rule. He reportedly attempted suicide by poison. This attempt failed because of his immunity to the poison. According to Appian's Roman History, he then requested his Gallic bodyguard and friend, Bituitus, to kill him by the sword. Carl Linnaeus published the genus Eupatorium in 1753 and it has been variously called boneset, thoroughwort and dog-fennel.

Euphor'bia: named for Euphorbus, Greek physician of Juba II, King of Mauretania.  Juba was educated in Rome and married the daughter of Antony and Cleopatra.  He was apparently interested in botany and had written about an African cactus-like plant he had found or which he knew about from the slopes of Mt. Atlas which was used as a powerful laxative.  That plant may have been Euphorbia resinifera, and like all Euphorbias had a latexy exudate. Euphorbus had a brother named Antonius Musa who was the physician to Augustus Caesar in Rome.  When Juba heard that Caesar had honored his physician with a statue, he decided to honor his own physician by naming the plant he had written about after him. The word Euphorbus derives from eu, "good," and phorbe, "pasture or fodder," thus giving euphorbos the meaning "well fed." Some sources suggest that Juba was amused by the play upon words and chose his physician's name for the plant because of its succulent nature and because of Euphorbus' corpulent physique. The genus Euphorbia was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called spurge.

europae'um/europae'us: of or from Europe, European.

Euryb'ia: Flora of North America gives this derivation: from Greek eurys, "wide," and baios, "few," perhaps alluding to the few, wide-spreading ray florets.Wikipedia adds the following about the mythological meaning of this name: "In Greek mythology, Eurybia, described as "[having] a heart of flint within her," was the daughter of Pontus and Gaia, consort to the Titan Crius, and mother of Astraeus, Perses, and Pallas. She was known as the goddess of mastery of the seas, or power over them—particularly external factors like the winds or rising of the constellations. An older, relatively minor deity, her role in most mythology is as the ancestor of other gods, and she often plays no role in the mythology." The genus Eurybia was published in 1821 by Samuel Frederick Gray and it is called wood aster.

eurycar'pum: with wide fruits.

Eutham'ia: from Greek eu- for "well or good," and thamees for "crowded," thus "well-crowded," from a dense inflorescence. The genus Euthamia was published in 1825 by Alexandre Henri Gabriel de Cassini and it has been called flat-topped goldenrod.

Eutro'chium: from Greek eu-, "well, truly," and trocho-, "wheel-like," alluding to whorled leaves. The genus Eutrochium is called joe-pye-weed was published in 1838 by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. The Adirondack Almanack says that Joe Pye was a Native American herbalist who used a local plant to cure a variety of illnesses including typhoid fever. For years, it was unknown if Joe Pye was a real person or a botanical myth until research confirmed the plant’s name originated from the nickname of Joseph Shauquethqueat, a Mohican chief who lived in Massachusetts and New York in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

exalta'ta/exalta'tum: very tall, lofty.

exim'ia: excellent in size or beauty, choice, distinguished, from the Latin eximius, "most beautiful, distinguished, uncommon."

Exochor'da: Stearn says from the Greek exo, "outside," and chorde, "a cord or string," referring to a technical characteristic of the ovary which has free placentary cords external to the carpels. The genus Exochorda was published by John Lindley in 1858.

expan'sa/expan'sus: expanded, from expandere "to spread out, unfold, expand," from ex-, "out," and pandere, "to spread, stretch."

exser'ta: exserted, protruding out of or beyond a surrounding structure, often used in reference to sexual parts that extend beyond the calyx or corolla.

exten'sa: extended.

extremiorienta'lis: from the most eastern part of its range.