hi'ans: gaping, yawning.

Hibis'cus: an ancient Greek and Latin name for some mallow-like plant. Flora of North America says: "Greek hibiscus or ibiscum, alluding to cohabitation with Ibis, stork, in marshes." Wikipedia says "The generic name is derived from the Greek name ibískos which Pedanius Dioscorides gave to the plant Althaea officinalis," the so-called marsh mallow or marshmallow. It is a large genus with several hundred species native to warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. The genus Hibiscus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called rose-mallow or hibiscus. Other common names are hardy hibiscus, rose of sharon, and tropical hibiscus.

hick'eyi: named for Ralph James Hickey (1950-2020), a pteridologist at Miami University. He was born in Massachusetts, graduated from Brighton High School in 1968, and attended Bridgewater State College (B.A., Biology, 1972). He then attended Miami University (M.S., Botany, 1978), and the University of Connecticut, Storrs (Ph.D., 1985). Jim was employed in the Harvard University herbarium (1976-1979), and as a botany professor at Miami University (1984-2014). hHe completed his tenure at Miami as Chair of the Botany Department. He was a world-renowned botanist and pteridologist, authoring many publications, especially on ferns. He was considered an exceptional teacher by all who knew him.

hieraciifo'lius: with foliage like genus Hieracium.

hieracio'ides: resembling genus Hieracium.

Hiera'cium: the classical name hierakion comes from the ancient Greek hierax, "a hawk."  The Roman naturalist Pliny believed that hawks fed on this plant to strengthen their eyesight and thus it became the Greek and Latin name for this and similar plants, the common name of which is hawkweed. The genus Hieracium was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, and is called hawkweed or king-devil.

Hierochlo'e: from Greek hieros, "sacred," and chloe." Stearn adds that "In some parts of northern Europe these fragrant grasses are strwen before church doors on saints' days." The genus Hierochloe was published by Robert Brown in 1812 and was called sweetgrass.

hil'lii:named for Ellsworth Jerome Hill (1833-1917), an American botanist, teacher and Presbyterian minister born in Le

		Roy, New York. The following is quoted from JSTOR: “While studying at the local Le Roy academy he worked on his father's farm during the summer months. Hill first took an interest in botany when, suffering from an affliction of the knee, he was told by his physician to study plants as a way to remain active out of doors. With the help of A. Wood's textbook, his interest grew and Hill learnt to collect specimens and classify plants. Moving to Mississippi for a milder climate, he remained there for three years exploring the woods and fields for plant specimens, before entering Union Theological Seminary

in New York in 1860. After graduating in 1863 Hill began to work as pastor of the Presbyterian Church in the district of Eastern Illinois. Unfortunately, by 1869 his illness had returned, this time affecting his hip-joint and forcing him to abandon his work for the church. Over the years that followed Hill was able to continue his botanical exploits thanks to the dedication of his wife, who often went out to gather plant specimens for her husband, who then wrote up the descriptions at home. Between 1870 and 1874 he was able to work at the high school of Kankakee, Illinois, teaching languages, botany and geology. Moving to Chicago in 1874 he taught natural sciences in the high school at Englewood. With his hip greatly improved, Hill collected plants in the Great Lakes region during the summers until he abandoned his teaching career in 1888. At this time, due to the inheritance of property from his father, he was able to pursue the study of botany freely until finally, a year before his death, his ailing health no longer allowed him to leave the house. Hill published numerous papers from his botanical studies, particularly on the ecology, taxonomy, distribution and propagation of various moss species.” He died in New York. An article in a 1917 issue of the Botanical Gazette shares these sentiments: "Hill's experience as a persistent field student is a lesson in patience and courage. His numerous field trips on crutches and afterward with canes; his devices to overcome the handicap of lameness while collecting; his persistence in making these trips even when he paid a severe penalty for exposure or over-exertion -- all testify to the spirit of the man. During his later years he was a constant and welcome visitor at the weekly meetings of the Botanical Club of the University of Chicago, and was always intensely interested in the various phases of modern botany. His mind was open and progressive, turned toward the future of his subject rather than toward the past. The Hill Herbarium, which is said to include 16,000 sheets, the accumulation of years of critical work, has been secured by the University of Illinois. It represents probably the most valuable single collection of Illinois plants, especially of the Chicago region, and it is fortunate that it has been made available in a public institution."

hippocast'anum: Latin name for the horse chestnut. The A. Vogel Plant Encyclopedia says "Linnaeus says it was named for a kind of oak. The species name hippocastanum means, literally, "horse chestnut"; it recalls the use of the seed to treat coughing and broken wind in horses and also distinguishes it from the chestnut eaten by humans."

hirsu'ta/hirsu'tum/hirsu'tus: hairy, from Latin hirsutus "rough, shaggy, bristly, hairy."

hirsutel'la: somewhat hairy, with very short hairs.

hirsut'ior: more hairy, rather hairy, from Latin hirtus, "hairy, shaggy, rough, rude, unpolished."

hirsut'ula: somewhat hairy.

hir'ta/hir'tum: hairy, from the Latin hirtus, "hairy."

hirtel'la/hirtel'lus: pubescent with very small, coarse, stiff hairs.

hirtifo'lia: having hairy leaves.

hispan'ica: of or from Spain, Spanish.

his'pida/his'pidum/his'pidus: rough, with bristly hairs, from Latin hispidus, "spiny, shaggy, rough."

hispid'ulum: with little bristly hairs, minutely hispid.

hitchcockia'na: named for Edward Hitchcock (1793-1864), an American geologist, the third President of Amherst

College (1845–1854), and one of the most prominent scientists of his day, and his wife Orra White Hitchcock (1796-1863), one of America's earliest women botanical and scientific illustrators and artists. Edward Hitchcock was born in Franklin County, Massachusetts, and attended newly founded Deerfield Academy, where he was later principal, from 1815 to 1818. In 1821 he was ordained as a pastor and served as pastor of the Congregational Church in Conway, Massachusetts, 1821–1825. He left the ministry to become Professor of Chemistry and Natural History at Amherst College. He held that post

from 1825 to 1845, serving as Professor of Natural Theology and Geology from 1845 until his death in 1864. In 1845, Hitchcock became President of the College, a post he held until 1854. As president, Hitchcock was responsible for Amherst's recovery from severe financial difficulties. He is also credited with developing the college's scientific resources and establishing its reputation for scientific teaching. In addition to his positions at Amherst, Hitchcock was a well-known early geologist. He ran the first geological survey of Massachusetts and in 1830 was appointed state geologist. He also played a role in the geological surveys of New York and Vermont. His chief project, however, was natural theology, which attempted to unify and reconcile science and religion, focusing on geology. His major work in this area was The Religion of Geology and Its Connected Sciences (1851). In this book, he sought out ways to re-interpret the Bible to agree with the latest geological theories, for example relating to the age of the Earth. He discovered some of the first fossil fishes in the United States and published papers on fossilized tracks in the Connecticut Valley, including Eubrontes and Otozoum, that were later associated with dinosaurs, though he believed, with a certain prescience, that they were made by gigantic ancient birds. In the Hitchcock Ichnological Cabinet he established a remarkable collection of fossil footmarks. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1834. From 1856 to 1861, Hitchcock was the State Geologist for Vermont. In 1841, he was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society. He was the author of Elementary Geology published in 1840 which had 31 editions. Hitchcock saw God as the agent of change, and explicitly rejected evolution and a religious six-day creation, perceiving that new species were introduced by a Deity at the right time in the history of the Earth. In 1821, he married Orra White, one of the earliest women botanical and scientific illustrators in the U.S. The two worked closely together, and she contributed more than 1,000 illustrations to his many scientific publications. Orra White Hitchcock was best known for illustrating the scientific works of her husband but also notable

for her own artistic and scientific work. She was born to a farming family in South Amherst, Massachusetts, and was educated by a tutor and at two “ladies” schools, proved herself a child prodigy in numerous scientific and classical subjects, and showed early promise in drawing and painting. From 1813 to 1818 she taught young girls natural sciences, and the fine and decorative arts at Deerfield Academy. Her early training grounded her in both science and art, and she has been called the Connecticut River Valley's "earliest and most often published woman artist." In 1821 she married

Edward Hitchcock. Her art was integral to the work of her husband. She made hundreds of illustrations for Edward Hitchcock's scientific publications, including detailed landscapes of the Connecticut River Valley for his Massachusetts geological survey volumes, and custom designed charts that illustrated his local discoveries and his classroom lectures. In addition, she made detailed drawings of native flowers and grasses and small precise watercolors of small local mushrooms. Her work is a time-focused chronicle of the scenic, botanically and geologically diverse Connecticut River Valley in western Massachusetts. Orra White Hitchcock, a scientist in her own right, had the contemporary reputation as one of the valley's “most distinguished naturalists.” Between 1817 and 1821 she and her husband collected native plants for a conventional herbarium. At the same time, she created a 64-page album of watercolors of about 175 local flower and grass specimens for her Herbarium parvum, pictum. This painted herbarium is in the Deerfield Academy Archives. In the summer and fall, she created a small watercolor album of native mushrooms and lichens, Fungi selecti picti. Edward Hitchcock labeled and catalogued the specimens. This painted album is in the Smith College Archives; a facsimile has been published by the Mortimer Rare Book Collection, Smith College. Between 1828 and the 1840s, Hitchcock made hundreds of large and dramatic classroom charts of geologic cross-sections, prehistoric beasts (like the Megatherium), fossils and ichnological (later called dinosaur) footprints. She copied scientific illustrations from contemporary works and made original illustrations of her husband's new ideas or discoveries, like Ornithichnites, He considered them as "indispensable aids" for his lectures. Hitchcock raised 6 surviving children, taught them art and science and was Edward Hitchcock's partner in his scientific undertakings. She traveled with her husband in the United States and to England and Europe (in 1850). Edward acknowledged his wife's essential contributions to his work in the dedication of The Religion of Geology, citing her drawings as more powerful than his pen. Edward Hitchcock died in 1864, less than a year after the death by consumption of his beloved wife.

Hol'cus: from the Greek holkos, an ancient name used by Pliny for some kind of grain, possibly barley, or a grass. Merriam Webster says "New Latin, from Latin, wall barley (Hordeum murinum), from Greek holkos, wall barley, furrow." The genus Holcus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called velvet grass or soft grass. He described three species of cultivated sorghum as genus Holcus in 1753 and later Conrad Moench separated Holcus from Sorghum which genus he published in 1794.

Holos'teum: from the Greek holosteon, "entire bone," an ancient Greek and Latin plant name used by Dioscorides and Pliny for a whitish plantain species, and derived in turn from holos, "whole, all," and osteon, "bone." The genus Holosteum was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called jagged chickweed.

Homalosor'us: from the Greek homalos, "smooth, even," and -sorus, plural of sori, the structure where spores are formed. The genus Homalosorus was published by Rodolfo Pichi Sermolli in 1977.

Honckenya: named for Gerhard August Honckeny (1724-1805), a German botanist best known for his Synopsis Plantarum Germaniæ published in 1703. The genus Honckenya was published by Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart in 1783 and has been called sea-beach sandwort or just sea sandwort.

hordea'ceus: Hordeum-like, barley-like.

Hor'deum: an ancient Latin name for barley, from the Latin word horreo or horrere, for "to bristle," after the long prickly awns of the ear of grain. The genus Hordeum was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called barley. This major cereal grain grown in temperate climates was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia. Wikipedia says "The earliest evidence of the consumption of wild barley in an archaeological context comes from the Epipaleolithic at Ohalo II at the southern end of the Sea of Galilee, where grinding stones with traces of starch were found. The remains were dated to about 23,000 BCE. The earliest evidence for the domestication of barley, in the form of cultivars that cannot reproduce without human assistance, comes from Mesopotamia, specifically the Jarmo region of modern-day Iraq, around 11,000 years ago." 70% of barley production is used as animal fodder, and 30% as a source of fermentable material for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various foods.

hormatho'des: from Greek hormos, "chain, necklace, collar, wreath." and -odes: "like, resembling."

horrid'ulum: the -ulum suffix is often used as a diminutive to convey the sense of 'somewhat,' as puberulum means 'somewhat downy,' or as nidulum means 'a little nest.' One of the meanings of horridus is prickly, so this would be 'somewhat prickly.'

horten'sis: of or pertaining to gardens, from Latin hortus, "a garden."

hortula'na: of the gardener, of food producers, from the Latin hortulanus, "gardener."

Hos'ta: named for Nicholaus Thomas Host (1761-1834), Austrian/Croatian botanist and physician to Holy Roman Emperor

		Franz II. He was born in Fiume, now Rijeka, Croatia, and studied medicine at the University of Vienna, receiving his doctorate of medicine in 1786. He practiced successfully as a doctor and eventually became the personal physician of the Emperor. In addition to his medical work, he developed a lively scientific interest in botany and as a young man made a number of botanizing expeditions, usually in the company of his close friend, the botanist Joseph von Jacquin, the son of the famous “Austrian Linnaeus,” Nikolaus Joseph Jacquin. Their travels took them to many parts of Austria, including Illyria

and the Tyrol, and beyond to Hungary and Croatia. Some of the collections made on these expeditions were incorporated into the Garden for Austrian Plants at the Belvedere palaces in Vienna established by Franz II in 1793, the laying out of which Host was largely responsible for. Host became its first director. Four years after the Garden was founded, Host published his Synopsis plantarum in Austria which described a number of new species, and it was followed by his major work, the four volume Icones et descriptions graminum austriacorum, published in the years 1801-1809. This magnificent book on the grasses of Central Europe was illustrated by the artist Johann Ibmayer and was dedicated to the Emperor. Two other publications of his are of significance in botanical literature. These were Salix (1828), a volume on the willows of the Austrian provinces, and Flora austriaca, two volumes (1827-1831). Of particular importance in the latter work were the descriptions of little-known plants from Istria and Dalmatia. In both of these later works, the illustrations are from the watercolor paintings of Ibmayer which became part of the Emperor’s personal library. Host’s name was given to the East Asian genus Hosta by the Austrian botanist Leopold Trattinnick in 1812.

Hotton'ia: named for Petrus Houttuyn (Peter Hotton) (1648-1709), Dutch botanist, physician, and professor of medicine and botany at Leiden University.  He was born in Amsterdam. As professor of botany, he was supervisor of the university's botanic garden and given an official residence and an allowance for foreign correspondence and the exchange of seeds and plants. He studied medicine in Leiden, obtaining his doctor's degree in 1672. In 1695 he succeeded Paul Hermann as professor of botany at the University of Leiden. Houttuyn was a member of the Leopoldina and a fellow of the Royal Society of London. He was especially known for his knowledge in the field of medicinal herbs. He was the author of Positiones quaedam medicae (1672) and Sermo academicus quo rei herbariae historia et fata adumbrantur (1695). The genus Hottonia was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called water-violet.

houghton'ii: named for Douglass Houghton (1809-1845), an American geologist, educator, chemist, physician, and

reluctant politician, primarily known for his exploration of the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan, which was the site of a copper boom and extensive copper mining beginning in the 19th century. Houghton was appointed in 1839 as the first state geologist of Michigan, after it was admitted to the union, and served in that position for the rest of his life. He was born in Troy, New York. His father was a lawyer and later a county judge. He was raised in Fredonia, New York, and he had an active temperament inclined toward the practical and scientific with what would prove to be a lifelong interest in the natural world.

He attended Fredonia Academy, where he early showed a preference for science over the classics. In spite of his small size, a slight speech impediment, and facial scarring from a youthful experiment with gunpowder, he was at ease with all levels of society. In 1829 Houghton entered the Rensselaer School in Troy, where, under the direction of Amos Eaton, scientific training was emphasized, particularly in geology. That same year he received both the bachelor's degree and a teaching appointment in chemistry and natural history at the school. He also studied medicine with a doctor friend of his family, and in 1831 received a license to practice. In 1830 the city fathers of Detroit were searching for a public lecturer on science and Houghton was recommended and enthusiastically received. He quickly was selected by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, US Indian Agent and geologist, to act as physician-naturalist on expeditions through Lake Superior and the upper Mississippi Valley in 1831 and 1832. On these trips Houghton did extensive botanical collecting, investigated the Lake Superior copper deposits of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and provided medical care to the Indian tribes they encountered. He established a flourishing medical practice in Detroit and earned the affectionate description: "the little doctor.” By 1836 he had largely set aside the medical profession to concentrate on real estate speculation. When Michigan achieved statehood in 1837, Houghton returned to public life and his love of the natural world. One of the first acts of the new Michigan state government was to organize a state geological survey, following a pattern already established in other states. Houghton's appointment as the first state geologist was unanimously hailed, and he occupied that position for the remainder of his life. In 1839 he was also named the first professor of geology, mineralogy, and chemistry at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He continued to reside in Detroit. He and his survey assistants spent many weeks in the field each season, mapping and evaluating Michigan's natural resources, and his personal influence with state legislators kept the project moving in the face of many financial difficulties. His fourth annual report, based on field work done in 1840, appeared February 1, 1841. It helped trigger the first great mining boom of American history, and earned him the title of "father of copper mining in the United States". He was a founding member and treasurer of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists (the predecessor of the American Association for the Advancement of Science) and served on several of its committees. A lifelong Episcopalian and staunch Democrat, he was elected to a term as mayor of Detroit in 1842, apparently against his wishes. In 1845 Houghton organized a geological survey of the Lake Superior region that was funded by the federal government. While working on that survey, he and two companions drowned in Lake Superior near Eagle River, Michigan, when their small boat capsized in a storm. His reluctance to yield to the expressed concerns of his voyageurs about the worsening weather conditions may have contributed to the disaster. His remains were discovered on the shoreline the next spring. Houghton's place in American history is somewhat problematic. Although he was the state geologist of Michigan for eight years, he never completed a comprehensive final report of his findings. One major reason may have been his early and unexpected death at the age of 36. He had multiple skills to apply, but he was not always successful in reconciling the conflicting demands of the various roles he filled. As a scientist his potential seems to have been considerable, but his death prevented that potential from being fully realized. (Largely extracted from Wikipedia)

Houston'ia: named for William Houstoun (sometimes spelled Houston) (1695-1733), Scottish surgeon and botanist who collected plants in the West Indies, Mexico and South America. By perhaps a coincidence (?) William Houston was born in Houston, Renfrewshire. Houston was originally known as Kilpeter. In the mid 12th century, the fee of Kilpeter was granted by Baldwin of Biggar, Sheriff of Lanark, to Hugh of Pettinain. From Hugh, the lands eventually became known as Houston (meaning "Hugh's town or manor"). Not much seems to be known about his early years, but he began a degree course in medicine at St Andrew's University but interrupted his studies to visit the West Indies, returning about 1727 when he entered the University of Leyden to continue his studies under the Dutch botanist Herman Boerhaave, graduating M.D. in 1729. It was during his time at Leyden that Houstoun became interested in the medicinal properties of plants. In 1730 he went to Paris and produced a list of all of the plants in the Parisian Jardin du Roi.After returning to England that year, he soon sailed for the Caribbean and the Americas employed as a ship's surgeon for the South Sea Company. He collected plants in Jamaica, Cuba, Venezuela, and Vera Cruz, dispatching seeds and plants to Philip Miller, head gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London. Near Vera Cruz he was shipwrecked and nearly lost all his specimens but many were salvaged. When Houstoun returned to London in 1731, he was named Doctor of Medicine by the University of St. Andrews, and introduced to Sir Hans Sloane by Miller. Sloane commissioned him to undertake a three-year expedition, financed by the trustees for the Province of Georgia for improving botany and agriculture in Georgia, and to help stock the Trustee's Garden which was planned for Savannah. Houstoun initially sailed to the Madeira Islands to gather grape plantings before continuing his voyage across the Atlantic. However he never completed his mission as he 'died from the heat' in August 1733 soon after arriving in Jamaica. It was probably tuberculosis. His specimens were all left to Miller who described many of them as new species in his Gardeners Dictionary. Houstoun had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society earlier that year. His writings and plant specimens, now preserved in the botanical department of the British Museum, passed from Miller to Sir Joseph Banks, by whom the manuscripts were published as Reliquiae Houstounianae in 1781. The genus Houstonia was named for him by Jan Frederik Gronovius, and published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, and is called bluets.

how'ei: named for Dr. Elliot Calvin Howe (1828-1899), a well-known American botanist and a member of the Torrey Botanical Club. He was born in Jamaica, Vermont, and studied medicine in New York City. While there, he was a reporter for the New York Tribune. He afterwards practiced medicine in Troy, New York, and became a professor in the Charlottesville Seminary and the Fort Edward Institute. He lived in New Lebanon and Yonkers, New York for several years, and later moved to Lansingburg, New York, where he spent the last 14 years of his life. He also lived for a time in Fort Edward in Washington County, New York, and taught there at the Washington Co. Seminary and Female Collegiate Institute, one of the largest academic institutions in the state. Most notably, he discovered several species of fungi throughout his life, including Tricholoma Peckii, Hygrophorus Peckianus, Puccinia curtipes, P. Peckianus, Microsphaera menispermi, M. platani and M. symphoricarpi, and two were named after him to commemorate his contributions to the field, Stropharia Howeanum and Hypoxylon Howeanum. He was married twice, first to Emily Maria Sloan of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and then to Mary Hayden of Hartford, Connecticut.

howell'ii: named for Thomas Jefferson Howell (1824-1912), a collector of the flora of Oregon and Washington. Born in  

Cooper County, Missouri, he moved at the age of eight with his family in 1850 by wagon train to the Oregon territory where they settled on Sauvie Island on the Columbia River outside of Portland. Only having six months of formal schooling and some education in Latin and the sciences from his father, he mostly educated himself while farming along the Clackamas River after leaving Sauvie Island. He collected plants found near his home and established an impressive herbarium, sending many specimens to Harvard and Europe, and to botanists such as Asa Gray, Sereno Watson and Liberty Hyde Bailey for

identification. He discovered more than 50 species and ran what may have been the region's first native plant nursery. He operated several grocery stores in the Portland area and served as the first postmaster of the Willamette Slough post office on Sauvie Island starting in 1873. He later served as the first postmaster of Creighton post office in Oak Grove, Oregon, beginning in 1904. He was the author of A Catalogue of the Known Plants (Phaenogamia and Pteridophyta) of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho which was published in 1887 and listed 2,152 species. After this was accomplished, he undertook to describe all the species in his list and despite marginal literacy (he attended only a few months of school, being educated mostly by his doctor father) and lack of funds, he wrote, produced and printed his own Flora of Northwest America to fill a gap that he perceived to exist in the botanical documentation of his country. "To defray publication expenses, he learned how to set type, composed the pages of his book himself at home, then carried them into town for individual printing. He completed the manuscript for this, his Flora of Northwest America, in 1897, and it was not completely printed and issued until 1903. It remained the most complete account of the flora of the Pacific Northwest for nearly fifty years." Howell and his brother Joseph (1830-1912) both became ardent botanical collectors and came to the attention of Asa Gray when they sent him samples for identification. The great Harvard scholar even named one species they discovered after them to honor their contribution, Howellia aquatilis. Howell's opus eventually reached 800 pages and remains a major work of the region. In 1903 Howell donated his collection of approximately 10,000 plant specimens to the University of Oregon. He spent the 1903-1904 academic year cataloging the collection for the university.  An article in the Oregon Encyclopedia quotes the comments of a number of major botanical figures regarding Howell: “Willis Lynn Jepson of Berkeley wrote ‘Mr. Howell . . . deserves no small meed of praise for the courage and resolution necessary in the face of such circumstances.’ The often-cranky E.L. Greene wrote that Howell ‘accomplished the greatest amount of meritorious and valuable scientific work that was ever done by any man of any epoch, on so very rudimentary an education in letters.’ Alice Eastwood of the California Academy wrote the kindest words of all. ‘The conscientious striving for the truth which distinguishes the work of this botanist, his independence in asserting his own views, and his thorough, careful work, command our respect; while the enthusiasm and self-denial which have resulted in the publication of a work of this magnitude by any author comparatively poor in money, at his own expense, commands, again, our admiration.’"

Hudson'ia: named for William Hudson (1730-1793), early British botanist born in Kendal, Westmoreland, and educated at Kendal grammar school. He served an apprenticeship to an apothecary in Haymarket, London. The following is quoted from Wikipedia: “He obtained the prize for botany given by the Apothecaries' Company, a copy of Ray's Synopsis; but he also paid attention to mollusca and insects. In Pennant's British Zoology he is mentioned as the discoverer of Trochus terrestris. From 1757 to 1768 Hudson was resident sub-librarian of the British Museum, and his studies in the Sloane herbarium enabled him to adapt the Linnean nomenclature to the plants described by Ray far more accurately than did Sir John Hill in his Flora Britannica of 1760. In 1761 Hudson was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and in the following year appeared the first edition of his Flora Anglica, which, according to Pulteney and Sir J. E. Smith, 'marks the establishment of Linnean principles of botany in England.' Smith writes that the work was 'composed under the auspices and advice of Benjamin Stillingfleet.' Hudson, at the time of its publication, was practising as an apothecary in Panton Street, Haymarket, and from 1765 to 1771 acted as 'praefectus horti' to the Apothecaries' Company at Chelsea. A considerably enlarged edition of the Flora appeared in 1778; but in 1783 the author's house in Panton Street took fire, his collections of insects and many of his plants were destroyed, and the inmates narrowly escaped with their lives. Hudson retired to Jermyn Street. In 1791 he joined the newly established Linnean Society. He died in Jermyn Street from paralysis on 23 May 1793, being, according to the Gentleman's Magazine, in his sixtieth year. He bequeathed the remains of his herbarium to the Apothecaries' Company.” The genus Hudsonia was published in 1767 by Carl Linnaeus and is variously called sand heather, beach heather, or golden heather.

humifu'sa: trailing, sprawling, spreading over the ground, from the Greek humus, "earth, ground," and fusus, "spread out, expansive, creeping."

humil'e/humil'is: low-growing, humble, from Latin humus, "earth, soil."

humistra'ta: "low layer," in reference to an often low-growing habit, forming a blanket over the ground.

Hum'ulus: Stearn says: "a medieval name apparently Latinized from a Low German or Slav name for the hop." And the A. Vogel Plant Encyclopedia says this; "The family name Humulus, coined in the Middle Ages, is said to derive from the Slavic word chmele (hops) or from the old Germanic Humel or Humela (fruit-bearing)." The genus Humulus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called hops.

Huper'zia: named for Johann Peter Huperz (1771-1816), a German botanist, physician and fern horticulturist, specialist on the ferns of Australia, who wrote a book on fern propagation, Specimen Inaugurale Medico-botanicum de Filicum Propagatione (1798). The genus Huperzia was published in 1801 by Johann Jacob Bernhardi.

Hyacintho'ides: resembling a hyacinth. The genus Hyacinthoides was published first by Philipp Conrad Fabricius in 1759 and then again by Friedrich Kasimir Medikus in 1791.

Hyacin'thus: the etymological root of Hyacinthus is derived from the Greek youth Hyakinthos who was a lover of the god Apollo. He had tried to catch a discus thrown by Apollo but the god of wind, Zephyrus, jealous that Hyakinthos preferred Apollo, blew it off course killing Hyakinthos. Apollo then unwilling to let him be taken by Hades caused a flower to spring from his blood. Hyacinthus is reputed to come from the Old French jacinte and the Medieval Latin jacintus, ultimately from Greek hyakinthos, which is probably ultimately from a non-Indo-European Mediterranean language. The website Snapblooms says "Hyacinths have a long history of symbolic meaning associated with them. In Greek mythology, a young man named Hyacinthus (Hyakinthos) was turned into a hyacinth flower after his death. So hyacinths became associated with youth, beauty, and short lives cut tragically short. In the language of flowers, hyacinths carry meanings of sorrow, grief, and apology, likely due to their story in Greek mythology. Hyacinths were given as an expression of sympathy or regret. Today, hyacinths still carry symbolic meanings of rebirth and new life. The hyacinth bulb lies dormant throughout the winter, bursting into colorful flowers in spring. So the hyacinth has become a symbol of rebirth, renewal, and perseverance through hardship. Overall, hyacinth flowers are usually associated with rebirth, springtime, and positivity due to their natural habitat coming alive after a long winter. They symbolize beauty and wisdom due to their mythological origins."

hyalinolep'is: having transparent or papery scales.

Hybanth'us: from the Greek hybos for "hump-backed" and anthos for "flower", referring to the drooping pedicels of plants that are part of this genus, which was published by Nicolaus Joseph von Jacquin (1760) and is called green violet.

hy'brida/hy'bridum/hy'bridus: mixed, hybrid.

Hydat'ica: wet, watery, from possible Greek roots hydor, "water," or hydatis, "a watery vesicle" (from Jaeger's Source-Book). Hydatica petiolaris is a synonym of Micranthes petiolaris, and one clue I found about the generic name is that it is native to the Southern Appalachian Mountains where it is found on exposed boulders and rocky seeps. Also, Asa Gray in his publication of the name in Natural Arrangement of British Plants (1821) says for habitat "sides of shady alpine rivulets." The common name is Appalachian saxifrage.

Hydrang'ea: water vessel, from the Greek hydor, "water," and angeion, "a jar or vessel," alluding to the jar- or cup-shaped fruits. The genus Hydrangea was published by Johan Frederik Gronovius in 1753.

Hydras'tis: Stearn says: "name suggested by the leaf of Hydrophyllum canadense, waterleaf, with which Hydrastis was confused." Common names include goldenseal, indian turmeric, orangeroot, yellow puccoon, sceau d'or, ground raspberry, eyebalm, and indian dye. The A. Vogel Plant Encyclopedia says: "Goldenseal was used by the Native American Cherokee to treat indigestion, lack of appetite, infection and even cancer, whilst the Iroquois used it to prepare infusions to treat whooping cough, liver infections, intermittent fever and heart disease, or to bathe skin conditions and eye infections or badly healing wounds. They also used the sap of the deep yellow root to dye skin and clothing. White immigrants adopted many of its medicinal uses. The meaning of Hydrastis, the name given to the herb by Linné, is unclear. The first part of the word is said to originate from hydor meaning ’water‘. According to Tschirch, the second part of the word refers to rheo, meaning ’to flow or to pour‘ or possibly drao ’to complete’, on account of its diuretic properties. Others believe it refers to the Greek word, aste, meaning ’native‘ which, together with hydor would produce the term ‘lives in water’." Flora of North America just says: "referring to superficial resemblance to some species of Hydrophyllum." The genus Hydrastis was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1759 and is called golden-seal.

Hydril'la: possibly a diminutive of hydra, "a water serpent," deriving from the Greek hydor, "water," and relating to the aquatic environment. The genus Hydrilla was published by Louis Claude Marie Richard in 1811 and is called simply hydrilla.

Hydroco'tyle: from the Greek hydor, "water," and kotyle, "a small cup." The genus Hydrocotyle is called water-pennywort or marsh-pennywort and was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1754.

Hydro'lea: called false fiddleleaf, this is the only genus of the family Hydroleaceae, and the name comes from the Latin hydor, "water," and olea, "olive," from the watery habitat and the resemblance of its leaves to those of the olive. The genus Hydrolea was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1764 and is called waterpod or fiddleleaf.

Hydrophyl'lum: from the Greek hydor, "water," and phyllon, "a leaf." The genus Hydrophyllum was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

hydropi'per: from the Latin prefix hydro- for "water" and piper, "pepper," this taxon is commonly referred to as waterpepper or marshpepper.

hydropipero'ides: resembling genus Hydropiper. Persicaria hydropiperoides is commonly called false waterpepper.

hyema'le/hyema'lis: of the winter, flowering in winter. It's curious that the species Eranthis hyemalis should have a generic name meaning one of the earliest spring bloomers and a specific meaning flowering in winter.

Hygroph'ila: loving water or a wet environment. The genus Hygrophila was published by Robert Brown in 1810 and is called swampweed.

Hylodes'mum: the name is derived from the Greek, hyle, "forest or wood, and desmos, "a chain, bundle, tie, band. ligament," of unknown application. There appears to be some relationship etymologically with the genus Desmodium, so maybe it is intended to mean a Desmodium-like plant that lives in forested areas, and all three of the Virginia species are to be found in dry to mesic forests. Species in the genus have been called ticktrefoils or tickclovers. The genus Hylodesmum was published in 2000 by Hiroyoshi Ohashi and Robert Reid Mill and is called tick-trefoil.

Hyloteleph'ium: woodland distant lover from the Greek hyle or hylo, "forest or woodland," and genus Telephium, a pre-Linnaean name for the species Hylotelephium telephium, the generic name of which is also derived from Greek and means ‘distant lover,’ the plant thought to be able to indicate when one's affections were reciprocated. Another source says: "The name Telephium was thought to be named after a surgical term for an ulcer that was particularly difficult to cure. This in turn was named after King Telephus [a king of Mysia in Asia Minor] who suffered from a spear wound that would not heal." One of the species. H. telephium, has these common names: orpine, livelong, frog's-stomach, harping Johnny, life-everlasting, live-forever, midsummer-men, Orphan John and witch's moneybags. The genus Hylotelephium was published by Hideaki Ohba in 1977.

Hyper'icum: an ancient Greek name derived from hyper, "above," and eikon, "picture," from the old practice of placing flowers above an image in the house to ward off evil spirits at the midsummer festival of Walpurgisnacht, which later became the feast of St. John held in late June when they are in bloom, and thus took the name of St. John's wort. The genus Hypericum was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called st. john's-wort.

hypno'ides: resembling genus Hypnum, which is a genus of mosses. A website about the lizard Cercosaura hypnoides says "The specific epithet is taken from the New Latin adjective hypnum, in turn derived from Greek hupnon (a type of lichen, + -oid) meaning “of the moss in reference to the luxuriant moss growth that characterized the lizard’s habitat and egg deposition sites." 

Hypochaer'is: it is not at all clear to me what the correct derivation of this name is. The entry for Hypochoeris [note spelling] in Stearn's Dictionary of Plant Names says "a name used by Theophrastus for this or a related genus," and Hypochoeris was the name published by Linnaeus in 1753. However he published it subsequently as Hypochaeris, and it may be speculated that the derivation might be different for the two names, although they applied to the same plant. The prefix hypo- means "below, beneath or under," and suggests physical directionality or location, not quantity or amount, as opposed to hyper-, "above or over." Edmund Jaeger's A Source-Book of Biological Names and Terms says that the root chaer- derives from the Greek choiros, "a young pig." The Jepson Manual 1st edition says "Greek: less then joyous, from weedy habitat." The Jepson Manual 2nd edition says "Unabridged note: Etymology differs from that in FNANM (Flora of North America North of Mexico), where the etymology on the Greek 'choeris' for pig; the correct spelling is 'chaeris' for joy." Flora of North America says: "Cat’s ear, swine’s succory [Greek hypo, beneath, and choiras, pig, alluding to pigs digging for roots]." And David Gledhill says: "a name used by Theophrastus; some suggest derivation as comparing the pig's belly bristles [i.e. those on the underside of the pig] to those on the abaxial [lower] surface of some species." Somewhere in there might lie the derivation, although how you get from pig to cat is beyond me.

hypochondria'cus: somber, afflicted with melancholy, also "pertaining to the hypochondria," from Medieval Latin hypochondriacus and Greek hypokhondriakos, "pertaining to the upper abdomen, affected in the hypochondrium." The hypochondrium is either of two regions of the abdomen, situated on each side of the epigastrium and above the lumbar regions, where in ancient times melanchoy was thought to reside.

Hypo'pitys: growing under pine trees, from the Greek hypo, "under, beneath" and pitys, "pine." The genus Hypopitys was published in 1766 by Heinrich Johann Crantz.

Hypox'is: Stearn says "an old Greek plant name from hypo, "under," and oxys, "sharp," transferred to these plants to which it has no particular relevance." FNA says referring to the pointed bases of the ovaries. The genus Hypoxis was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1759 and is called stargrass or yellow-stargrass.

Hyp'tis: turned back, from the Greek hyptos which alludes to the position of the lower lip of the flower facing backwards. The genus Hyptis was published by Nicolaus Joseph von Jacquin in 1787.

hyssopifo'lia/hyssopifo'lium: with leaves like genus Hyssopus.

hysterici'na: like a porcupine, referring to the bristly pistillate spikes. One of the common names for the species Carex hystericina is porcupine sedge.

hysterophor'us: from the Greek, hysterikos, "the womb,' and phorus, "thief, bearing, carrying," thus "womb- or seed-bearing," of uncertain application.

hystrici'nus: spiny, like a porcupine, from the Greek hystrix, "porcupine."

Hys'trix/hys'trix: bristly, porcupine-like. The genus Hystrix was published by Conrad Moench in 1794 for the species described as Elymus hystrix by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. Beginning in the 1960's genomic studies showed that Hystrix patula was in fact better placed in Elymus, and the other species previously placed in Hystrix were transferred to Leymus.