Lia'tris: unknown origin or derivation. The genus Liatris was published by Johann Christian Schreber in 1791 based on a previous description by Joseph Gaertner. The genus is called blazing star or gayfeather.

Ligus'ticum: from the Greek ligustikos, "Ligurian, pertaining to Liguria, Italy." The genus Ligusticum is called lovage and was published in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus.

ligustri'na: resembling genus Ligustrum, the privet, privet-like.

Ligus'trum: a Latin name for the privet plant. The genus Ligustrum was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called privet.

Lilaeop'sis: Lilaea-like. The genus Lilaeopsis was published in 1891 by Edward Greene.

liliifo'lia: lily-leaved. Other taxa has the same specific epithet only spelled lilifolia.

Lil'ium: derived from the Greek lirion, "a lily." The genus Lilium was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called lily.

Limno'bium: from Greek limnobios, "living in pools," in turn from limne, "a marsh," and bios, "life." The genus Limnobium was published by Louis Claude Marie in 1811 and is called frog's-bit.

Limo'nium: comes from the ancient Greek name Leimonion for sea-lavender, from leimon, "a meadow or pasture," referring to frequent occurrence of some species on salt meadows. Other sources say that it derives from the Greek limne meaning "a marsh" or "plants growing in a salt marsh." The genus Limonium was published by Philip Miller in 1754 and is called sea lavender.

Limosel'la: from the Latin limus, "mud," and sella, "seat," because of its habit of growing in wet places. The genus Limosella was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called mudwort or awl-leaf.

Linar'ia: from the Latin linum, "flax," referring to the flax-like leaves of some species. The genus Linaria was published by Philip Miller in 1754 and is called yellow toadflax.

linariifo'lia: with leaves like those of genus Linaria.

Lin'dera: named for Johann Linder (Johan Lindestolpe) (1676-1723), a Swedish botanist and physician, author of Flora Wiksbergensis. He was born of poor parents and studied botany in Turku where he received a degree in 1702, and then medicine in Uppsala where he received a degree in 1705. In 1706 he was enrolled at the University of Harderwijk, where he became a doctor of medicine and received his doctorate in 1798 in Leiden. From 1709 to 1710 he served as a doctor in the Swedish navy and was then a practicing doctor in Stockholm. In 1719 he was appointed assessor in the Collegium medicum and was ennobled the same year to Lindestolpe. His treatise De foeda lue dicta venera (Uppsala 1705) was the earliest detailed presentation of syphilis published in Sweden. He wrote the Flora Wiksbergensis as a botanist in 1716. The genus was published by Carl Peter Thunberg in 1783 and is called spicebush, benzoin, feverbush or benjamin bush.

Lindern'ia: named for German botanist Franz Balthazar (Balthasar) von Lindern (1682-1755). He was born in Bouxwiller

France, one of eight children of a pharmacist. He attended high school there and then studied in Strasbourg, in Halle, Leipzig, Wittenberg, Erfurt and Jena. He wrote a thesis for his doctorate in 1708, and two years later a work on bone disease. Returning to Strasbourg, he taught botany, chemistry and pharmacology. His book on venereal diseases, Speculum veneris noviter politum, was first published in 1728 and further editions were published in subsequent years. It was this book that established his reputation which was further enhanced by his publication in 1739 and 1741 of the two-volume work

Medicinal passe-partout (Master key of all and every disease of the human body). He did not write these books in Latin but in his native German and thus were readily available to a larger audience. While working and writing as a physician, he was also an avid botanist, exploring the flora of Alsace and being appointed as Director of the Botanical Garden of Strasbourg. In 1728 he also published a flora of Alsace entitled Tournefortius Alsaticus and followed that up with Hortus Alsaticus. plantas in Alsatia nobili in 1747. He died in Strasbourg. The genus Lindernia was published in 1766 by Carlo Allioni and is called false pimpernel.

lindhei'meri: named for Ferdinand Jakob Lindheimer (1801-1879), a German-born Texas botanist who spent his working

		life on the American frontier and was often called the Father of Texas botany because of his work as the first permanent-resident plant collector in Texas. He was born in Frankfurt and was educated at the Frankfurt Gymnasium, a Berlin preparatory school, the University of Wiesbaden and the University of Jena. He received a scholarship in Philology at the University of Bonn. In 1834 Lindheimer, as an active proponent of governmental reform of Germany, and having participated in the failed Frankfurt Putsch insurrection, immigrated to the United States as a political refugee and arrived in Belleville, Illinois,

whence he traveled by boat to New Orleans. He continued onward to Texas, but was diverted to Mexico where he lived and worked for more than a year, living in the German colony in Veracruz where he learned about Mexican botany. Late in 1835 he departed Mexico as the Texas Revolution was beginning and was shipwrecked on the coast near Mobile, Alabama. Lindheimer headed back to Texas and arrived at the San Jacinto battlefield the day after the final battle of the Texas Revolution. In 1844 he met Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, Germany, who was making final arrangements for the settlement of a German colony in Texas, which would be known as New Braunfels, Texas, and this was where he lived for the remainder of his life. During the late 1830s and early 1840s, Lindheimer collected fifteen hundred plant species in the southTexas area, part of this time for Dr. Asa Gray of Harvard University. In 1852, Lindheimer was hired as an editor, and along with Adolph Douai, helped found the German-language newspaper known as the Die Neu-Braunfelser Zeitung. Lindheimer is credited with the discovery of several hundred plant species. In addition his name is used to designate one genus, Lindheimera, and forty-eight species and subspecies of plants. He is buried in New Braunfels, and his house on Comal Street in New Braunfels is now a museum.

linearifo'lium: with narrow linear parallel-sided leaves.

linea're/linear'is: linear, parallel-sided.

linea'tum/linea'tus: with lines or stripes, marked with lines usually colored, from the Latin lineata, "lined."

linifo'lia/linifo'lius: having leaves like those of Linum.

Lin'um: from linon, the old Greek name for flax used by Theophrastus. The genus Linum was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called flax.

Lipar'is: from the Greek liparos, "oily, smooth, fat, greasy, or shining," alluding to the almost oily feel and luster of the leaves that are typical of plants in this genus. The genus Liparis was published by Louis Claude Marie Richard in 1817 and is called wide-lip orchid or twayblade.

Lipocar'pha: from the Greek, leipo, "to fall," and carpha, "chaff," referring to deciduous transparent inner secondary scale of the spikelet in many species, The genus Lipocarpha was published by Robert Brown in 1818.

Lip'pia: named for Augustin Lippi (1678-1705), a French physician and botanist of Italian descent. Most sources including Stearn and Gledhill list his date of death as 1701, but David Hollombe and Wikipedia have it as 1705.  He was born in Paris of Italian parents. He studied medicine at the University of Paris and collected plants in Egypt. In 1703, French King Louis XIV planned on establishing trade relations and resuming missionary activity in the Kingdom of Ethiopia, and Guy-Crescent Fagon, Superintendent of the King's garden, asked Lippi to join the Lenoir du Roule mission to Ethiopia to try to establish diplomatic ties with the Negus (Emperor) Yasous the Great. A delegation was therefore to be sent to Ethiopia, however, the French consul in Cairo, Benoît de Maillet, had been commissioned recently for the first time and shied away from the difficulty and danger of the trip. He in turn proposed the vice-consul of Damiette, Le Noir Du Roule (1665?-1705), to carry out the expedition. Despite hostility to the mission from the Jesuits, the Franciscans and the Coptic Patriarch, a small group including Augustin Lippi left Cairo on July 9, 1704. The group first traveled along the Nile to the city of Asyut, reached Selfma oasis on October 3, and arrived at Moscho on October 18, where a long rest was taken. At the end of May 1705, the delegation reached the town of Sennar on the Blue Nile in modern-day Sudan, ruled by the Funj Sultanate. Here the journey was repeatedly delayed. On November 10, 1705, the six-person party was attacked on a square in Sennar. Five of the six (including Lippi) were murdered. This is from Wikipedia, and although many websites mention Augustin Lippi, they all repeat the same single piece of information that he was killed in Abyssinia and nothing else. The genus Lippia was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1754.

Liquidam'bar: from Latin liquidus, "liquid, fluid," and ambar, "amber," referring to the sweet resinous sap exuded by the trunk when it is cut. The genus Liquidambar is commonly called sweetgum and was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Lirioden'dron: the tulip tree, from Greek leirion, "a lily," and dendron, "a tree." The genus Liriodendron was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called tulip-tree.

Lis'tera: named for Martin Lister (1638-1711), an English naturalist and physician. The following is quoted from

Wikipedia: "He was nephew of Sir Matthew Lister, physician to Anne, queen of James I, and to Charles I. He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, 1655, graduated in 1658/9, and was elected a Fellow in 1660. He became F.R.S. [Fellow of the Royal Society] in 1671. He practised medicine at York until 1683, when he removed to London. In 1684 he received the degree of M.D. at Oxford, and in 1687 became F.R.C.P. He contributed numerous articles on natural history, medicine and antiquities to the Philosophical Transactions. His principal works were Historiae animalium Angliae tres tractatus

(1678); Historiae Conchyliorum (1685 1692), and Conchyliorum Bivalvium (1696). As a conchologist he was held in high esteem, but while he recognized the similarity of fossil mollusca to living forms, he regarded them as inorganic imitations produced in the rocks. In 1683 he communicated to the Royal Society (Phil. Trans., 1684), an ingenious proposal for a new sort of map of countries together with tables of sands and clays, such as are chiefly found in the north parts of England. In this essay he suggested the preparation of a soil or mineral map of the country, and thereby is justly credited with being the first to realize the importance of a geological survey. He died at Epsom on the 2nd of February 1712." The genus Listera was published in 1813 by Robert Brown and like Liparis is called twayblade.

Lit'sea: a vernacular name from the Chinese li, "little," and tse, plum. The genus Litsea has more than 400 species in Asia, Australasia, and America, and was published by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1789. The genus is called pondspice.

littora'le/littora'lis: of the seashore.

lloyd'ii: named for Stewart Joseph Lloyd (1881-1959), an American chemical engineer; professor; and academic administrator. He was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and was educated at the University of Toronto (B.A., 1904), (McGill University (M.Sc., 1906), and the University of Chicago (Ph.D., 1910). He was employed by the University of Alabama from 1909 to 1952, first as a professor of chemistry and metallurgy, then head of the Department of Chemical Engineering, and finally as Dean of the School of Chemistry. He also was a consulting chemical engineer for the Alabama Power Company, and an assistant state geologist, then acting state geologist, 1939-1945, for the state of Alabama. He was the author of many papers on scientific subjects, and a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemists, the American Electrochemical Society, and the Faraday Society, which was a British society for the study of physical chemistry, founded in 1903 and named in honour of Michael Faraday. On his retirement he was designated Dean Emeritus of the School of Chemistry.

loba'ta: lobed, from Greek lobos and Latin lobus, "a lobe."

Lobe'lia: named for Matthias de l'Obel (1538-1616), (also known as Lobelius), a Flemish botanist. According to my friend

Umberto Quattrocchi, L'Obel "studied at the University of Montpellier, [was a] traveller and plant collector, from 1565 to 1566 worked with Guillaume Rondelet at Montpellier, [was] physician to William, Prince of Orange, attended Lord Edward Zouche in his embassy to the court of Denmark, [was] botanist and physician to King James I of England, [and] superintended a physic garden at Hackney." "His Stirpium adversaria nova (1571, written with Pierre Pena) is one of the milestones of modern botany. Later, Stirpium observationes, a sort of complement to the Adversaria, was joined to it under the

title Plantarum seu stirpium historia (1576). His botanical work was directed toward the pharmacological use of plants. L'Obel published an essay on the pharmacology of Rondelet as part of a reissue of his Adversia in 1605. He referred to Lord Zouch's garden as the garden of medicine." (Quoted from a website called the Galileo Project at Rice University). The genus Lobelia was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Lobular'ia: from the Latin lobulus, "a small pod," referring to the fruit. The genus Lobularia was published by Nicaise Augustin Desvaux in 1814.

locus'ta: from the Latin locusta, "locust, grasshopper, lobster or crayfish." Gledhill says that in botanical Latin, it means spikeleted. There is a genus Locusta in the family Valerianaceae with several species, and there are a half-dozen taxa that have locusta as a specific epithet. There is also a genus Locusta in the family Acrididae, which is the locusts. The OED (Online Etymology Dictionary) says: "the Latin word locusta originally meant 'lobster or some similar crustacean, the application to the locust being suggested by the resemblance in shape.' This is plausible; trilobite fossils in Worcestershire limestone quarries were known colloquially as 'locusts,' which seems to have been the generic word for 'unidentified arthropod' (as apple was for 'foreign fruit'). In English, but possibly also in Latin." SEINet however says "Locusta means "growing in an enclosed area," which appears to be an entirely unrelated derivation. So it seems that this is a name about which there is much speculation but little definitive. And as an interesting though almost certainly not germane aside aside, a woman named Locusta of Gaul was the official poisoner to the emperors of ancient Rome whose talents were occasionally called upon when necessary in order to dispatch rivals.

loesel'ii: named for German botanist and physician Johannes Loeselius (1607-1655), professor of medicine in Königsberg 1639-1655. He was born in Brandenburg and received his first education at Insterburg and then in 1626 he began his studies in Königsberg. From 1630 to 1631 he studied in Frankfurt and was awarded a master’s degree in Königsberg in 1632. Later he travelled as an educator to several countries including France, England and Holland, and then to Transylvania. In 1636 he was registered at the University of Rostock and in 1639 obtained a doctorate in medicine at the University of Leiden. He served as a professor of medicine at the University of Königsberg. Loeselius had been working on a flora of Prussia which he was unable to finish due to illness. His son Juan published it in 1654 under the title of Plantae in borussia sponte nascentes and manuscriptis parentis. Johann Gottsched (1668-1704) revised and expanded the manuscript and the result was published in 1703 as Flora Prussica. He also had a genus Loeselia named for him.

Lo'lium: classical common name for ryegrass. Lolium was published in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus and is called rye grass or darnel. Lolium is the Latin word for darnel or cockle (Lolium temulentum), another European rye grass. Another website says the term Lolium comes from the Latin name of loglio, a plant that was considered harmful to sight in Virgil and Pliny. Rye grass should not be confused with rye, which is a grain crop.

lonchocar'pa: from Greek lonche, "a lance," and karpos, "fruit."

longiflor'a: refers to the length of the corolla.

longifo'lia: with long leaves.

long'ii: named for Bayard Henry Long (1885-1969), American botanist at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. Born and raised in Hanover, Pennsylvania, Bayard Long attended Cheltenham High School from which he graduated in 1904, before entering the University of Pennsylvania. In 1908 he received a BSc with a major in botany and enrolled in the university's graduate school, but did not receive another degree. At some point he became affiliated with the prestigious Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, but he never accepted any salary from that institution. In 1906 Long became a member of the Philadelphia Botanical Club and from 1913 served as Curator of the club's local herbarium, a position he held until his death. Thus his custodianship of  one of the country’s finest local herbaria spanned 56 years. With other members of this club Long collected in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia  and Delaware, maintaining a herbarium of some 80,000 extremely carefully preserved specimens with detailed field notes, and gaining a reputation as a keen observer and a superb collector. In 1924-1925 Long joined the Gray Expedition to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland where he collected alongside Merritt Fernald, who stated that “If there is a keener collector or discoverer of native plants than Bayard Long, I have yet to meet him.” Because he was particularly interested in the Cyperaceae family, the sedge species Scirpus longii was named after him by Fernald, as were nine other species. Long published numerous papers on the distribution and biology of a range of plant species, including members of the Delphinium, Scirpus, Prunus, and Crepis genera. A 1970 memorial written about him in Rhodora by John M. Fogg Jr., who carried on a professional relationship and friendship with him for more than 40 years, states that “Bayard Long’s intellectual qualifications were such that he could doubtless have succeeded in any field of endeavor which appealed to him. [He] was an extremely modest and almost painfully self-effacing individual. Long’s first serious illness occurred in the early 1960s, although he continued to work at the Academy until the fall of 1962. Afterwards he was confined to his home in Elkins Park, where almost until the very end he continued by letter amd telephone to answer the questions of those who called upon him for help.”

longiligula'tum: with long ligules.

longiros'tris: long-beaked.

longise'ta: having long bristles.

longispina: having long spines.

longisty'lis: having a long style.

lonic'era: named for Adam Lonitzer (Lonicer, Lonicerus) (1528-1586), a German herbalist, physician and botanist who

revised a standard herbal text dating from 1533 that was reprinted many times between 1557 and 1783. The son of a theologian and philologist, and a professor of theology and ancient languages ​​at Marburg, Johannes Lonicerus, Adam was born at Marburg and studied there and at the University of Mainz, obtaining a Magister degree at the age of sixteen. In 1553 he became a professor of mathematics at the Lutheran University of Marburg and received a Doctor of Medicine the following year, becoming the town physician of Frankfurt-am-Main. His true interest was herbs and the study of botany. His first

major work was Naturalis historiae opus novum, published in 1551. This was followed by the Kreuterbuch, published in 1557, which was a compilation of work done by Dr. Eucharius Rosslin, Jean Ruelle, Valerius Cordus, Pietro Andrea Mattioli, Hieronymus Braunschweig and Conrad Gessner. This book was an amalgam of scientific fact, anecdotal knowledge, tall stories, and medieval herbal tradition, and included references to fictitious plants and animals, but was immensely popular right up to the 19th century. There is also a genus Lonicera which was published in his honor in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus.

loom'isii: named for Harris Loomis (1795-1837), an American botanist who gained some acclaim in Georgia and the Carolinas. He grew up in Onslow County, North Carolina, and lived in New Bern, N.C. and later in Macon, Georgia. Newspaper notices, in both latter places, announced that he had  "fresh garden seeds, just received and for sale at the drug store of Harris Loomis." He married twice in New Bern. His second wife was his first wife's sister. He apparently earned a medical degree in 1819 from Columbia University.

Lo'tus: from Latin lōtus and ancient Greek lotos, originally applied to a fruit which was said to induce a state of dreamy and contented forgetfulness in those who ate it, perhaps derived of semitic origin. The genus Lotus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called bird's-foot trefoil.

louisian'ica: of or from Louisiana.

lowriean'um: named for Jonathan Roberts Lowrie (1823-1885), botanist, plant collector and lawyer. He was born in Butler,

Pennsylvania, and graduated from Jefferson College in 1842. He studied law with his cousin, Walter Hoge Lowrie and practiced at Holidaysburg, Pa. from 1846 to 1854, and at Warriors Mark, Pa., from 1854 until his death in 1885. He devoted much of his time to the study of botany and to the cultivation of an arboretum on his estate. He made a large collection of rare plants and discovered one new species, Prunus alleghaniensis, and others new to the state of Pennsylvania. He was married twice and had nine children. He served as a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church for several years. He died at Warriors Mark, Pa., Dec. 10, 1885.

lu'ciae: named for Marie-Lucie Roche (1847-1897). Her husband was the French military doctor, botanist, and explorer Paul Amédée Ludovic Savatier (1830 1891).

lucid'ula: somewhat bright or shining.

lu'cida/lu'cidum: glossy, clear or shining.

lucor'um: of woodland or woods, from lucus, "a wood."

ludovici'ana: of or from Louisiana.

Ludwig'ia: named for Christian Gottlieb Ludwig (1709-1773), German botanist, plant collector and a professor of

medicine in Leipzig. He was born in Brieg, Silesia (now Brzeg, Poland) the son of a shoemaker and attended high school there. Beginning in 1728 he studied medicine, botany and natural sciences at the University of Leipzig, but the pecuniary condition of his family caused him to discontinue his studies. He took a job as a botanist on an African expedition led by naturalist Johann Ernst Hebenstreit. In 1733 he managed to resume his studies, giving lectures from 1736 and earning his doctorate the following year. He became an associate professor of medicine in 1740, and in 1747 he became a full professor of

medicine. He carried on a correspondence with other botanists, in particular Carl Linnaeus, discussing with him his sexual classification system. He was the author of De sexu plantarum (1737), Institutiones historico-physicae regni vegetabilis (1742), Definitiones generum plantarum (1747), Terrae Musei Regii Dresdensis (1749), Adversaria Medico Practica (1769-1773) and others. One of his sons was the physician/naturalist Christian Friedrich Ludwig and another was a physician and scientist known for his translation of Joseph Priestley's scientific experiments. The genus Ludwigia was published in his honor by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called seedbox, primrose-willow or water-primrose.

Luf'fa: FNA says from the Arabic lufah, the name for L. aegyptiaca, the elongated fruit of which the dried fibrous interior serves as a bathroom sponge, hence the name loofah. It is often called the dishcloth gourd. The genus Luffa was published by Philip Miller in 1754.

Lunar'ia: from the Latin luna, "moon," for the flat, round seedpods or their white-silver color similar to that of the Moon. The genus Lunaria is called honesty and was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

luna'tus: shaped like a crescent moon.

Lu'pinus: Stearn says: "Supposed to be derived from lupus, "a wolf," because of the completely erroneous belief that these plants destroyed the fertility of the soil." Wiktionary gives a different interpretation, saying that "The reason for association of the plant with the wolf is the wolf-like “fang” within the blossom." The Jepson eflora gives other ideas: "Latin wolf, from plants overrunning ground, or sadness, from facial response to harsh seed taste; meaning uncertain." The genus Lupinus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called lupine.

lupuliform'is: having the form of hops. The common name of the species Carex lupuliformis is false hop sedge.

lupuli'na: Stearn says "hop-like." Another source says "The specific epithet lupulina means 'wolf-like' - a reference to the flowers of the hop Humulus lupulus, which its inflorescence resembles." One of the common names for Medicago lupulina is hop clover.

lup'ulus: Stearn provides this information: "Literally, lupulus means a small wolf, the vine once having been locally called willow-wolf from its habit of climbing over willow trees."

lute'a/lute'um: yellow, from a weedy source of yellow dye called lutum.

Luz'ula:

lychni'tis: Gledhill says from a name in Pliny, meaning of lamps.

lycio'ides: resembling genus Lycium.

Ly'cium: from the Greek name Lykion used by Pedanius Dioscorides and Pliny the Elder for some thorny tree or shrub, perhaps some species of Rhamnus, deriving probably from the Greek lykion for 'thorn,' and reapplied by Linnaeus as the name for this genus. It is sometimes said that the root is the Greek lykos for “wolf,” hence one of the common names wolfberry, but this now seems unlikely. It is possible that the tree also came from the ancient southern Anatolian region of Lycia. There is disagreement as to whether it should be pronounced LY-see-um, LIS-ee-um, LIK-ee-um, or ly-SEE-um, however Merriam Webster has the following "Lycium (\'lis(h)ēəm\): NL, fr. Gk lykion, a thorn from Lycia, fr. neut. of Lykios Lycian," so that would indicate that it should be pronounced either LIS-ee-um or LISH-ee-um. The genus Lycium was published in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus and is called matrimony-vine, wolfberry or goji berry.

lycoper'sicum: means the same as Lycopersicon, which comes from Greek lykos, "wolf," and persicon, "a peach," because of supposed poisonous properties, and originally the name of an Egyptian plant later transferred to this American genus.

Lycopodiella: from genus Lycopodium and -ella, a Latin adjectival suffix indicating diminutive stature, hence a small Lycopodium. The genus Lycopodiella was published in 1964 by Josef Holub.

Lycopodio'ides: having the form or or a resemblance to genus Lycopodium. The genus Lycopodioides was published in 1891 by Karl Ernst Otto Kuntze.

Lycopo'dium: from the Greek lykos, "wolf," and podion, "a foot," from some imagined resemblance of the branch tips to a wolf's foot. The genus Lycopodium was published in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus.

Lyco'pus: from Greek lykos, "wolf," and pous, "a foot," alluding to some fancied resemblance to a wolf's foot. The genus Lycopus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called bugleweed or water horehound.

Lygo'dium: climbing- or twining-fern, alluding to the supple twisting shoots, from Greek lygos, "a pliant twig." The genus Lygodium was published in 1801 by Olof Swartz.

Lyon'ia: named for John Lyon (1765-1814), a Scottish horticulturalist, botanist and plant collector. He was born near Dundee where his family appears to have been involved in the blossoming jute industry in the late 18th century. Little is known of his early life but in 1783 he is recorded as John Lyon Jr, living with his father, John Lyon, a merchant on the Murraygate in east Dundee. He appears to have trained as a nurseryman and gardener, probably on a large country estate near Dundee. It’s not clear when or why this happened, but towards the end of the 18th century he moved to the United States and by 1796 had met William Hamilton, a wealthy landed gentleman and art collector, who hired him as Director of planting for his famous 300-acre garden at Woodlands on the Schuylkill River just outside Philadelphia, and encouraged him to undertake numerous excursions in the Allegheny Mountains to gather plant specimens in order to enhance the garden's growing collection. Under Lyon's care, the garden soon contained over ten thousand native and exotic plants, reportedly "the finest collection in America in variety and beauty." He left the estate in 1805, being replaced by Frederick Pursh, and the following year he returned to Britain, taking many plants with him which he sold at auction in London. In 1807 he returned to America and began collecting more widely, concentrating on the southern Appalachian Mountains but ranging from the Carolinas to Florida. He was particularly enamored of western North Carolina and the diverse and often unique flora that flourishes there, where he followed in the footsteps of earlier botanical explorers André Michaux and John Bartram. A journal he kept of his travels indicates that he collected plants on Roan, Grandfather, and Pilot mountains, among others, and that he stayed on several occasions with acquaintances in Asheville, Morganton, Lincolnton, and Salem. Lyon's journal is preserved in the library of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia; it was published in the society's journal, Transactions, in 1963. The only published works of Lyon himself were two catalogues circulated during trips he made to England which listed the American plants he brought with him to sell through both private transactions and public auctions. He went back to England in 1812 taking a large collection of newly acquired plant specimens to sell, but soon returned to the United States. A fellow botanist described Lyon as "a gentleman through whose industry and skill more new and rare American plants have lately been introduced into Europe than through any other channel whatever." His excursions were not always easy ones as Stephen Spongberg, author of the book A Reunion of Trees: The Discovery of Exotic Plants and Their Introduction into North American and European Landscapes (1990) wrote “On one foray, a mad dog bit the collector on the leg, forcing Lyon to sear the three punctures he sustained with a burning-hot iron and to depend on self-administered folk remedies. When his horse went astray he was sometimes forced to travel on foot, and poor roads and the lack of maps or adequate directions often resulted in lost bearings and restless nights spent without an evening meal and the comfort of a bed.” Late in the summer of 1814, Lyon contracted a "bilious fever" en route from Tennessee into North Carolina. He traveled as far as Asheville, where he spent his last weeks in bed at the Eagle Hotel under the care of a young friend, Silas McDowell, later a prominent Macon County leader who wrote a moving account of Lyon's death. He was only 49. He is credited with bringing 31 new species into cultivation. Now growing around his grave are plants named for or discovered by Lyon. He was honored by generas named Lyonia for him in the Ericaceae, the Asclepiadaceae and the Polygonaceae. The genus Lyonia was published by Thomas Nuttall in 1818. and is called staggerbush, maleberry and fetterbush.

lyra'ta: Stearn says "of lyrate form, usually referring to leaves with a broad rounded tip and sinuate sides diminishing in width towards the base." Salvia lyrata is often referred to the lyre-leaved sage. Also has been called cancerweed because it was once believed to be an external cure for cancer. Roderick Cameron of the International Oak Society adds this: "Lyrate means shaped like a lyre, a harp-like instrument, from Greek lyra (though it is difficult to see how the shape of the instrument resembles the shape of leaves described as lyrate!)

Lysimach'ia: possibly named for Lysimachus (c.360bce-281bce), a Macedonian general and one of the successors of Alexander the Great, subsequently the King of Thrace, or more likely from the Greek lysimachos, "ending strife," from lysis, "a loosening, releasing," and mache, "strife," from whence came the English name of loosestrife, which the Jepson Manual gives as the common name for this genus (in addition to Lythrum). This latter derivation is the one given by Flora of North America. Lysimachus was according to Pliny the first one to discover that the plant now known as loosestrife had a calming effect on oxen (see Lythrum below). The genus Lysimachia was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called loosestrife.

Lyth'rum: from the Greek lythron meaning "blood," and alluding to the color of the flowers or to the reputed styptic (tending to contract or bind, tending to check bleeding) qualities of some species. One source I found says "the Greek word lythrum also means ‘gore’ in the sense of blood flowing from battle wounds and other causes.This may refer to the plant's ability to stop bleeding." Regarding the name 'loosestrife,' this same source (Seedahalic.com) says "The curious name ‘Loosestrife’ is apparently translated from the Greek and means something like 'that which placed on the yoke of quarrelsome oxen will calm them down.' They thought that garlands of the herb hung around the necks of oxen would encourage a team to plough a field in harmony. The veracity of this is a little hard to put to the test these days." The idea was that the plants were supposedly repellant to gnats and fleas and thus lessened the irritation of those insects to oxen under plough. The genus Lythrum was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called loosestrife.