Pi'cea: from the Latin picea, "pitch-pine," from pix or picis, "pitch." The genus Picea was published by Albert Gottfried Dietrich in 1824.

Pi'cris: from the Greek pikros for "bitter, pungent." The genus Picris was published in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus.

piedmonta'na/piedmonta'nus: of or from the Piedmont region.

Pier'is: the genus name derives from Pieria, a place in northern Thessaly according to Greek mythology the home of the Muses, and is so-called for the Pierides, the collective name for the daughters of King Pieris. As is the case with most mythology, names, places, and other details are very fluid and often confounding and contradictory. The Pierides were said to be the nine (or seven) sisters who defied the Muses in a contest of song and, having been defeated, were turned into birds, some say magpies, and some recount that they became the grebe, the wryneck, the ortolan, the jay, the greenfinch, the goldfinch, the duck, the woodpecker and the dracontis pigeon. Their father, Pieris, was not King of Pieria but rather of the neighboring kingdom of Emathia, giving rise to them having sometimes been called the Emathides, a name that also refers to their paternal uncle Emathus. The Latin word pieris apparently literally means muse, and the home of the Muses was Pieria or Mount Pieria, so the Muses and the Pierides are often confused. Contrary to what Flora of North America says, none of the muses was named Pieris. The genus Pieris was published by David Don in 1834.

Pi'lea: from Latin pileus, "a felt cap," because of the calyx covering the achene. The genus Pilea was published by John Lindley in 1821 and is called clearweed.

pilos'a/pilos'um: covered with long soft hairs.

pilosel'la: tomentose, finely felted with small soft hairs, diminutive of pilosa.

Pimpinel'la: Gledhill says "a medieval name of uncertain meaning, first used by Matthaeus Sylvaticus." The A. Vogel Plant Encyclopedia says "The origin of the name Pimpinella is unknown. Some linguists trace it back to the Latin for ‘pepper’, due to the root's taste on the tongue: spicy at first followed by a burning sensation. The name first appears in the 7th century in the writings of the Italian physician, Benedictus Crispus." The genus Pimpinella has been called burnet saxifrage and was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Pinel'lia: named for the Italian botanist Giovanni Vincenzo Pinelli (1535-1601), founder of the botanic gardens in Naples.

The following is quoted from The Free Dictionary: "Gian Vincenzo Pinelli (1535–1601) was a humanist of Padua, a savant whose collection of manuscripts, when it was purchased from his estate in 1608 for the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, filled 70 cases. A mentor of Galileo, a collector of scientific instruments whose literary correspondence put him at the center of a European network of virtuosi, Pinelli stood out among among the early bibliophile collectors who established scientific bases for the methodically assembled private library, aided by the comparatively new figure—in the European world— of the

bookseller. He was among Europe's early botanists and collected mathematical instruments. He had taken musical instruction from the great madrigalist Philipp de Monte, with whom he continued a correspondence. His kept his amanuensis Camillus Venetus (Zanettus) busy. His love of books and manuscripts, and his interest in optics, labored under a disability: a childhood mishap had destroyed the vision of one eye, forcing him to protect his weak vision with green-tinted lenses. Cautious and withdrawn by nature, detesting travel whether by road or canal boat, wracked by the gallstones that eventually killed him, he found solace in the library he amassed over a period of fifty years. Leonardo's treatise on painting, Trattato della Pittura, was transcribed in the Codex Pinellianus circa 1585, perhaps expressly for Pinelli who made annotations in it. Pinelli's codex was the source for the Barberini Codex from which it was eventually printed, ostensibly edited by Raphael du Fresne, in 1651. Pinelli's interest in the new science of optics was formative for Galileo Galilei, for whom Pinelli opened his library in the 1590s, where Galileo read the unpublished manuscripts, consisting of lecture notes and drafts of essays on optics, of Ettore Ausonio, a Venetian mathematician and physician, and of Giuseppe Moleto, professor of mathematics at Padua (Dupre). His enormous library was probably the greatest in 16th-century Italy, consisting of around 8,500 printed works at the moment of his death, plus hundreds of manuscripts. When he died in 1601, Nicolas Fabri de Peiresc was in his house and spent some of the following months studying his library and taking notes from its catalogues. Pinelli's secretary, Paolo Gualdo, wrote and published (1607) a biography of Pinelli which is also the portrait of the perfect scholar and book-collector. Beside his Greek and Latin libraries of manuscripts his collection included the original Arabic manuscript from which was translated and printed the Descrizione dell'Africa of Leo Africanus. In the field of botany, he collected herbs in his garden and corresponded with the father of Italian botany, Luca Ghini, who pioneered the techniques of drying and pressing plant material for a herbarium and whose papers he transcribed after Ghini's death, while the botanists who would be considered Ghini's heirs, like Andrea Mattioli and Ulisse Aldrovandi, clamored for them. Pinelli's voluminous correspondence with the French humanist and book collector Claude Dupuy was published in 2001. He is commemorated in Padua with Via Vincenzo Pinelli and with the Aroid genus Pinellia." The genus Pinellia was published by Michele Tenore in 1839.

pinetor'um: of the pine forests.

pinna'ta/pinna'tum: featherlke, having leaflets arranged in opposite rows on each side of a common stalk.

pinnati'fida/pinnati'fidum/pinnati'fidus: pinnately cut.

Pi'nus: the ancient Latin name. The genus Pinus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

piperi'ta: pepperlike, tasting hot and sharp like pepper. Mentha piperita is the botanical name of peppermint, which is actually a hybrid of spearmint (Mentha spicata) and watermint (Mentha aquatica), and is sometimes listed as Mentha X piperita.

Piptochae'tium: from the Greek pipto, "to fall," and chaite, "bristle or long hair." The genus Piptochaetium was published by Jan Svatopluk Presl in 1830 and is called needlegrass.

Pist'ia: from the Greek pistos, "water," alluding to the floating or aquatic habitat of this genus, whose common name is water-lettuce. The genus Pistia was published in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus and is called water lettuce.

Pi'sum: the ancient Latin name for the pea.

Pityop'sis: from Greek pitys, "pine," and -opsis, "appearance or likeness," alluding to pineneedle-like leaves of P. pinifolia. The genus Pityopsis was published by Thomas Nuttall in 1840 and is called grass-leaved golden-aster or silkgrass.

planifo'lium: having flat leaves.

Plano'des: from the Greek planos, "roaming, rambling or wandering," because P. virginica had been placed in so many different genera by different authors, and also because it was distributed over such a wide area. The genus Planodes was published by Edward Lee Greene in 1912 and is called winged rock cress.

plantagin'ea: resembling a plantain.

plantaginifo'lia: with leaves like Plantago.

Planta'go: a Latin name for the plantain from Latin planta which can have two meanings, "foot print or sole of the foot" or “a sprout, a shoot, a young tree or shrub that may be transplanted, a cutting,” and -ago, "resemblance," alluding to leaf shape of P. major. The genus Plantago was published in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus and is called plantain.

platano'ides: resembling genus Platanus.

Platan'thera: from the Greek platys for "flat, broad or wide" and anthera for "anther," referring to the separation of the base of the pollinia in the type species of the genus, P. bifolia. The genus Platanthera was published by Louis Claude Marie Richard in 1817 and is called fringed orchids or butterfly orchids.

Plat'anus: from the Greek name platanos for the long-lived oriental plane tree. The genus Platanus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called sycamore or planetree.

platylep'is: with flat or broad scales.

platyneur'on: from platy-, a prefix signifying flat, broad or wide, and Greek neuron, "nerve."

platyphyl'la/platyphyl'lum: broad-leaved.

Pleopel'tis: full of scales, scaly, from pleos, "many," and pelte, "shield." The genus Pleopeltis was published in 1908 by Cornelis Rugier Willem Karel van Alder werelt van Rosenburgh.

plica'tum: pleated, from the Latin word plicare, "folded in plaits or braided."

Pluche'a: named for Noël-Antoine Pluche (1688-1761), a French naturalist. The following is quoted from a website

page on him at The Online Library of Liberty: "Noël-Antoine Pluche was born in 1688. After completing his studies, he became a professor first of humanities, then of rhetoric in his hometown of Rheims, before taking holy orders. The Bishop of Laon made him director of the collège (secondary school), an offer he accepted partly to escape the controversy that arose around him for his refusal to swear adherence to the bull Unigenitus (1713). After a lettre de cachet was prepared against him, he was provided with private tutorial positions by both Gasville (royal intendant of Rouen) and the Englishman Lord Stafford. After

a chance discovery of information useful to the Crown, he was offered a lucrative priory by Cardinal Fleury—which he refused on principle because of his continued refusal to sign Unigenitus. Still, his teachings and writings began to gain some notoriety. He became deaf, retired in 1749 to Varenne-Saint-Maur, and died of apoplexy in 1761. His major work, Spectacle de la nature, was an eight-volume study of life and creation that was translated into virtually all European languages, still appearing in abridged editions in the early nineteenth century. His other works include Histoire du ciel (1739), La Méchanique des langues (1751), and Concorde de la Géographie des différents âges (1765), as well as works on Holy Scripture and French royal coronation ceremonies." He was born in Reims to the northeast of Paris. Based on the pronunciation of the original French name Pluche, this name should be correctly pronounced "PLOOSH-a." The genus Pluchea was published in 1817 by Alexandre Henri Gabriel de Cassini and is called camphorweed or marsh fleabane.

plukenet'ii: named for Leonard Plukenet (1642-1706), English botanist, Royal Professor of Botany and gardener to Queen

Mary II. He was born in Westminster, London, and remained resident there most of his life. JSTOR provides the following: After his education at Westminster School he apparently went to Hart Hall, Oxford, and became a doctor of medicine. He appears to have practised as a physician and was quite wealthy at the time of his death, though whether this was from inheritance or successful practice is not known. In 1699 he married Letitia Manley, with whom he had seven children. Plukenet must have spent a good deal of time learning about botany, for he is mentioned in a letter from John Ray to Hans Sloane

in 1684 and emerged at this time as a competitor of Sloane and James Petiver in amassing a great herbarium of plants from around the world, sent to him by correspondents. He assisted John Ray with the second volume of Historia Plantarum and Ray mentions Plukenet as a botanist of the highest order in the preface of his 1690 Synopsis. Favoured by Queen Mary (consort of William III), in about 1690 Plukenet was appointed supervisor at the king's gardens of Hampton Court Palace. The following year, when he was already 50 years old, Plukenet's first publication appeared. The first three parts of the Phytographia (1691-1692) contained 250 plates, published at Plukenet's own expense. A fourth part was brought out in 1696, with the works Almagestum botanicam (1696) and its supplement, Almagestum botanici mantissa (1700). An additional volume, the Amaltheum botanicum, with 104 plates, was published in 1705, along with an index to the whole. Together these tomes were considered one great corpus on new and rare plants from around the world, and they were collected together as one complete work in 1720, with a further edition of this brought out in 1796. It is frequently cited in books and papers from the 17th century to the present. Carl Linnaeus drew significantly on the Phytographia and Paul Dietrich Giseke later compiled an Index Linnaeus (1779), collating Plukenet's figures with the latter's species. Among the many plants figured in Plukenet's work were many from America, including scores collected by John Banister of Virginia. His specimens from St. Helena are also of special interest, for they provide some of the earliest examples of the island's endemic plants, some now extinct. Plukenet's herbarium was superior to Petiver's in terms of organisation, but the sources of specimens often remains a mystery. In his later life he also amassed a collection of 1,700 insects, which he pressed like plants. Deposited at the Natural History Museum in London, it is possibly the oldest collection of British insects in existence. He was buried in St Margaret's Church, Westminster, where he had been baptised.

plumar'ius: feathered or plumed.

Po'a: from the classical Greek name poa, poie, or poia for "grass," "fodder," or "pasture grass." The genus Poa was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called bluegrass. A genus of about 570 species worldwide, this is the genus that gave the family Poaceae its name.

podagrar'ia: Gledhill says snare, of gout, podagra (the apothecaries' herba podagraria, or goatweed, was used to treat gout).

podocar'pa: from podos, "foot," and karpos, "a fruit," alluding to the fruits which are borne on a fleshy stalk.

Podophyl'lum: from the Greek pous or podos, "foot," and phyllon, "a leaf," alluding to the shape of the leaf in P. peltatum. The genus Podophyllum was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and has been called mayapple.

Podostem'um: foot-stamened, from Greek podos, "foot," and stemon, "thread or stamen," alluding to stamens elevated on a foot-stalk. Gledhill adds: "the much reduced "flower' arises from a thallose (ribbonlike) stem on rocks in fast-running water." The genus is commonly referred to as riverweed. Podostemum is a genus with species mostly restricted to South America, but one in Bangladesh and another, the one in the Flora of Virginia, that ranges from eastern Canada to the eastern United States and Hondurus. The genus Podostemum was published by André Michaux in 1803 and Podostemon is an alternative spelling. The genus is called riverweed.

poet'icus: pertaining to poets, an epithet often used in connection with plants associated with ancient Greek and Roman poets.

Polanis'ia: from the Greek polys, "many," and anisos, "unequal," referring to the stamens. The genus Polanisia is called clammy-weed and was published by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1819.

Polemonium: may have come from the the Greek name polemonion for a (medicinal?) plant or group of plants including the Greek valerian or Jacob's ladder that was associated with the Greek herbalist and healer Polemon of Cappadocia. The genus is commonly called Jacob's ladder, the name deriving from the leaves that are pinnately compound, resembling a ladder, referring to a ladder seen in a dream by the biblical Jacob. Gledhill says the name refers to King Polemon of Pontus who may or may not be the same person. A less likely derivation is from the Greek polemos for "war." The genus Polemonium was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called jacob's ladder.

polyan'thes: many-flowered.

polycar'pa: having many seeds or fruit.

Poly'gala: from the Greek polys, "many or much," and gala, "milk," since it was thought that the presence of some of the species in a pasture increased the yield of milk. The genus Polygala was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called milkwort.

polyga'ma: meaning polygamous, that is bearing both unisexual and bisexual flowers on the same plant.

Polygona'tum: Gledhill says many knees. Stearn says: "The Greek name polygonaton, from polys, "many," and gony, "the knee joint," in allusion to the swollen joints of the stems." And Wikipedia says that polygonatum refers to the multiple jointed rhizome. The genus Polygonatum was published by Philip Miller in 1754 and is commonly called solomon's-seal. One explanation for the derivation of the common name Solomon's seal is that the roots bear depressions which resemble royal seals that gave rise to the notion that Solomon 'who knew the diversities of plants and the virtues of roots,' has set his seal upon them in testimony of its value to man as a medicinal root.

Another is that the cut roots resemble Hebrew characters. And a third is that the shape of the leaf scar on the rhizome as it resembles the two overlapping triangles that constitute the Seal of King Solomon.

Polygonel'la: from the genus name Polygonum and the Latin -ella, a diminutive, hence a small Polygonum. The genus Polygonella was published by André Michaux in 1803 and is called jointweed.

polygonifo'lia: with leaves like Polygonum.

polygonor'um: "of Polygonum", possibly referring to the propensity for this species to grow on members of the genus Polygonum.

Polygo'num: FNA says from the Greek poly, "many," and gony, "knee joint" (traditional interpretation), or gone, "seed" (grammatically correct interpretation). The genus Polygonum was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called knotweed.

Polym'nia: in Greek mythology Polymnia is apparently a variant of the name Polyhymnia, the muse of sacred song, poetry and oratory. The root poly- means "much or many." The genus Polymnia was published by Pehr Kalm in 1753 and is called leafcup.

polymor'pha: of many forms, variable.

polyphyl'lus: with many leaves.

polypodio'ides: having a resemblance or similarit to genus Polypodium.

Polypo'dium: from the Greek polys, "many," and pous, "foot," alluding to some species that have many knoblike places on the rhizome. The genus Polypodium was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Polypo'gon: from the Greek polys, "many," and pogon, "beard," alluding to the panicles which are hairy or bristly, i.e. "much bearded." The genus Polypogon was published by René Louiche Desfontaines in 1798 and is called rabbit's-foot grass.

Polypre'mum: from Greek polys, "many," and premnon, "stump or stem," alluding to the diffuse much-branched habit of the species P. procumbens, which is the only species in the genus, which was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called just polypremum.

polyrrhi'za: many-rooted.

polysper'ma: many-seeded.

polysta'chya: with many spikes.

polystach'ios/polystach'yos: with many spikes, from the Greek polys for "many" and stachyos, for an "ear of grain, or spike."

Polysti'chum: from the Greek polys, "many," and stichos, "row," referring to the rows of sori on the type species. The genus Polystichum was published by Albrecht Wilhelm Roth in 1800.

pomif'era: apple-bearing or fruit-bearing, from the Latin pomum, "fruit of any kind, an apple."

Ponteder'ia: named for Giulio Pontedera (1688-1757), an Italian botanist and entomologist of Tuscan origin. He was born in Vicenza in the Republic of Venice. A professor of botany at Padua, he was also Director of the botanical garden there. He was a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Galileiana Academy of Arts and Science. Although he rejected Carl Linnaeus' system, Linnaeus was a correspondent of Pontedera's, and named the genus Pontederia after him in 1753. The genus is commonly called pickerelweed, a name it received from the pickerel fish (northern pike), with which this plant is thought to coexist. The Pontederiaceae is called the pickerelweed family.

Ponthie'va: named for Henry de Ponthieu (1731-1808), a London-born merchant and amateur botanist of Huguenot Protestant ancestry who collected fish and plant specimens from the West Indies for botanist Joseph Banks in 1778. As well as the larger Caribbean islands, Ponthieu visited Barbuda, Antigua, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Grenada and Tobago in 1783-87. His was a rare visit to Barbuda, an island neglected by most contemporary botanists. Ponthieu wrote to the Englishman William Codrington while there, providing details on the state of the island, in particular the damp basement of the castle where he was accommodated during his stay. The genus Ponthieva was published by Robert Brown in 1813 and is called shadow witch orchid.

Pop'ulus: Latin for "people" because the many moving leaves in a breeze resemble a moving populace. The genus Populus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called poplar, aspen and cottonwood.

porof'ila: "lover of soft stone" in reference to its preferred habitat on sandstone.

porrifo'lius: means that the leaves look like those of the leek, the scientific name of which is Allium porrum.

Porteran'thus: named for Thomas Conrad Porter (1822-1901), an American botanist, plant collector, professor, author and

pastor.  "Born in Alexandria, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, 22 January. 1822,he was graduated at Lafayette college, Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1840, and at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1843, and was licensed to preach in 1844.  In 1846 he was pastor of a Presbyterian church in Monticello, Georgia, and in 1848 he took charge of tile newly organized 2d German Reformed church in Reading, Pennsylvania, and was ordained by the classis of Lebanon. In 1849 he resigned to become professor of natural sciences in Marshall college, Mercersburg, PA, held the same chair when the institution was

removed to Lancaster and consolidated with Franklin college in 1853, and was secretary of tile board of trustees until 1866, when he resigned to become professor of botany and zoology in Lafayette. In 1877 he became pastor of the Third street Reformed church of that town, which charge he resigned in 1884.  Rutgers gave him the degree of D.D. in 1865, and Franklin and Marshall that of LL. D. in 1880.  He is a member of various scientific societies, and was a founder and first president of the Linnaean society of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania.  His extensive herbarium is in the possession of Lafayette college.  His reports in connection with Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden's collections in the Rocky mountains in 1870-'4 were published by tile government, and one of these, "A Synopsis of the Flora of Colorado," prepared with Professor John M. Coulter, has been issued in a separate volume (Washington, 1874).  He also furnished a summary of the flora of the state to "Gray's Topographical Atlas of Pennsylvania" (Philadelphia, 1872), and to "Gray's Topographical Atlas of the United States" (1873).  In addition to contributions to the " Mercersburg Review," he has published a prose version of Goethe's " Hermann und Dorothea" (New York, 1854); translated '"The Life and Labors of St. Augustine," from the German of Dr. Philip Schaff (New York, 1854-'5), and "The Life and Times of Ulric Zwingli," from the German of Hottinger (Harrisburg, 1857); and contributed several hymns from the German and Latin to Dr. Philip Schaff's "Christ in Song" (New York, 1868).  He was an active member of the committee that framed in 1867 the order of worship that is now (1888) used in the German Reformed church in the United States."  (From Virtuology.com Famous Americans)  He was the author in 1903 of The Flora of Pennsylvania.  In 1855, two weeks after the publication of Song of Hiawatha by Longfellow, Porter stunned the literary world when he charged that the famous poet had cribbed "the entire form, spirit, and many of the most striking incidents of the Finnish epic [Kalevala]" (which first appeared in 1849) and applied them to the Americans indians. "[Porter] was a scholar of rare ability and lofty attainments... and made extensive researches in various fields of study, especially in Botany, and many contributions of permanent value issued from his prolific pen.  He was a linguist of note, an expert in Finnish and other obscure literature.  He was an authority on Ecclesiastical history and enriched the literature of his Church with valuable contributions.  Although bearing an Anglo-Saxon name, he nevertheless was proud of his German ancestry and at the time of his death was the President of the Pennsylvania-German Society." (From a website on famous Pennsylvania Germans and specifically on the Rev. John Conrad Bucher, a maternal ancestor of Porter's). The genus Porteranthus was published by Nathaniel Lord Britton in 1894.

por'teri: see previous entry.

portoricen'se: of or from Puerto Rico.

Portula'ca: an old name, probably Latin, from words meaning "small gate or door" because of the capsule lid. The genus Portulaca was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called purslane or just portulaca.

portulacas'trum: I infer that the meaning of this comes from the genus name Portulaca and astrum, "star," so would indicate a Portulaca-like plant that has star-shaped flowers.

Potamoge'ton: river neighbor, from the Greek potamos, "a river," and geiton, "neighbor," because of the habitat. The genus Potamogeton was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is commonly called pondweed.

Potentil'la: comes from the Latin diminutive of potens meaning "powerful" in reference to the medicinal properties of some species. The genus Potentilla was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called cinquefoil, five-fingers or just potentilla.

Poter'ium: Gledhill says "drinking cup, Dioscorides' name for another plant," and FNA says "Greek poterion, "goblet or cup," presumably alluding to the shape of the hypanthium." And additionally or alternatively, CasaBio says from "Greek poterion and Latin. poterium, "a vessel or drinking cup." The leaves of the Poterium sanguisorba were used in the preparation of drink." The genus Poterium was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

powell'ii: named for John Wesley Powell (1834-1902), famed explorer and runner of the Colorado River through the

Grand Canyon. Born in New York, he had to be removed from public school because of the hostility of his classmates resulting from his Methodist preacher father's stand against slavery, and he was tutored by a neighbor, George Crookham, a farmer and scientist who encouraged the boy to learn about nature firsthand. After continuing his education in Wisconsin where his family moved, he taught school for a number of years, retaining his interest in science and making a complete collection of the molluscs of Illinois. He joined the Army at the outset of the Civil War, was wounded at Shiloh and had an arm

amputated. He continued teaching as a professor of Geology at Illinois State after the war. Still believing in direct study of nature, he took students on a field trip to the Rocky Mountains in 1867, where he studied, collected, took scientific measurements and explored. Returning in 1868, he began to think about exploring the Grand Canyon, and made his first trip through it by boat in 1869. The river was wild, a boat was lost, and no one knew how long it would take to emerge from the canyon. Fearing that they would die, three men left the expedition at a place called Separation Canyon and hiked out of the gorge, only to be killed by Indians. Two days later the remaining boatsmen sailed into Lake Mead and were met by some fishermen. Powell conducted a second, more scientific survey of the Colorado over 1871-1872, and the Smithsonian Institution published a monumental account of his explorations in 1875. His research on Indians led to the creation of the Bureau of Ethnology and he became its Director. He also was appointed Director of the U.S. Geological Survey in 1881 and held that post until retiring in 1894. He was founder and President of the Anthropological Society of Washington, an early member of the Biological Society of Washington, an organizer of the Geological Society of Washington, and he helped establish the National Geographic Society and the Geological Society of America, receiving honorary degrees from several universities and becoming President in 1888 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Few men in America have combined the qualities and accomplishments of exploration and science to the extent that he did, and he was buried in Arlington National Cemetary.

praeal'tum: very tall.

prae'cox: (very) early (flowering or ripening ), developing before the usual time. Wikipedia says it is often used as a qualifying adjective in Latin binomials, and could mean "early flowering, primitive or premature."

praegrac'ilis: I'm not sure how this should be defined, but it derives from the Latin prae-, a prefix indicating "before or in front," and gracilis, "slender". Other names that use this same prefix are praealtus, which is defined as "very high [tall] or very deep" and praevernus, meaning "coming very early," so perhaps praegracilis means "very slender" which this species certainly is. CasaBio says "From the Latin prae-, "to a very high degree," and  gracilis,"thin or slender".

praemor'sa: appearing to be bitten off at the end, from the Latin premorsus, "bitten off," past participle of premordeo, "to bite off."

prair'ea: of American open grasslands, flatlands or prairies, from Latin pratum, "a meadow," pertaining to or growing in a meadow.

prasi'na: leek-green, leek-like, from Greek prason, "leek."

praten'se/praten'sis: from the Latin pratum, "a meadow," thus growing in meadows.

praterico'la: of meadows, inhabitants of grassy places.

Prenan'thes: from the Greek prenes, "prone, prostrate, with face downward," and anthos, "flower." The genus Prenanthes was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Prim'ula: from the Latin primus or primulus, "first," and referring to early-flowering. In medieval times, the daisy was called primula veris or "firstling of spring." The genus Primula was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called shooting star.

pring'lei: named for Cyrus Guernsey Pringle (1838-1911), who was born in Vermont and entered the University of Vermont

in 1859. The death of his brother however in his first semester ended all thoughts of college and made it necessary for him to assist his widowed mother in the running of their farm. His first nursery was assembled even before he started college which showed an incipent interest in botany and horticulture. He cross-bred potatoes, apples, sold seedlings of lilies, gladioli and wheat, seeds of Hubbard squash, and grew more than 100 varieties of iris. Despite being a Quaker he was drafted for service into the Union Army, refused to compromise his beliefs in non-violence, and was severely disciplined, beaten

and imprisoned in a military camp in 1863. Despite Secretary of War Stanton’s refusal to discharge him, President Lincoln intervened and ordered Stanton to release him and other Quaker conscripts. A book about his experience based on his journal called The Record of a Quaker Conscience was posthumously published in 1918. After returning home, he began breeding plants on the family farm, and made significant improvements in varieties of wheat, oats, potatoes, and grapes. He also began collecting rare Vermont plants. His name came to the attention of Asa Gray at Harvard, and in 1880 he made his first western trip, collecting and studying the flora of the Southwest for Gray. In 1885 Gray sent him to Mexico and he spent the remainder of his life studying the flora there. He eventually collected some 500,000 specimens that were donated to the University of Vermont and various other herbaria. Today the Pringle Herbarium is the second largest collection in New England. He worked for some of the legendary Harvard botanists, and achieved a record of botanical fieldwork in Mexico that is unsurpassed even today. In addition to the Pringle Herbarium, there are collections of his specimens at the herbaria of Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Harvard, University of Texas, Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

prino'ides: resembling the genus Prinos. Roderick Cameron of the International Oak Society adds this: "In the case of Quercus prinoides, it means resembling Q. prinus, which Linnaeus named using a Latin name for holm oak, prinus, derived from Greek prinos."

prismat'ica: shaped like a prism, with flat surfaces separated by angles.

Proboscid'ea: from Greek proboskis, "an elephant's trunk," in allusion to the longated curved ends of the fruit. The genus Proboscidea was published in 1763 by Casimir Christoph Schmidel.

procer'a: tall.

procum'bens: with trailing, prostrate stems, bearing or producing offshoots, proliferating.

profun'da: Gledhill says "large, very tall." Other sources derive from Latin profundus, "deep," from pro, "before," and fundus, "deep." Fraxinus profunda can grow to 125' so the "tall" derivation seems to apply. The common name of Fraxinus profunda, pumpkin ash, refers to its swollen, pumpkin-like trunk base.

projec'ta: stretched out, extended, jutting out, projecting.

prolif'icum: very fruitful, prolific, for the Latin word for "many," and referring to the many stamens.

propin'quum: from the Latin propinquum, can have several senses: used of space, "near or neighboring, close;" used of time, "near, at hand, not far off;" used of appearance, "resembling, similar;" used of a relationship, "related, kindred." I suspect without being able to verify it that its botanical sense at least as it applies to Crocanthemum propinquum has to do with some perceived resemblance or close relationship to other taxa.

Proserpina'ca: Strearn says "Plant name of obscure application, probably from proserpo, "to creep along." Pliny used this name for a Polygonum, which means relating to Proserpine, the wife of Pluto and goddess of the underworld. The genus Proserpinaca was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called mermaid-weed.

proserpinaco'ides: resembling genus Proserpinaca.

prostra'ta/prostra'tum: prostrate.

protru'sa: thrusting forward, pushig out.

pruino'sa: glistening as though frosted, covered with a bloom or powder so as to appear to be frosted, from Latin pruinosus, "frosted," and pruina, "hoar-frost."

Prunel'la: from a German word braun or die Bräune for "quinsy," a type of throat inflammation that this plant was used to treat. In the 15th and 16th centuries the Germans used the words Prunella and Brunella interchangeably, and in medieval Latin brunella, diminutive of brunus ‘brown’, referred to a disease causing a brown coating on the tongue, which self-heal was a reputed cure for. The genus Prunella was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called self-heal and heal-all.

prunifo'lia/prunifo'lium: with leaves like a plum.

Pru'nus: an ancient Latin name, prunum, for the plum tree. Prunus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is variously called plum, cherry, sloe, peach, apricot.

pseudacor'us: false Acorus, from the Latin pseudes, "false," and genus Acorus, "sweet flag," alluding to the rhizomes that are similar in appearance.

pseu'do-: a prefix meaning false in some sense, from Greek pseudes, false, deceptive.

pseudoacacia: false acacia.

pseudocauda'tum: caudatum/caudatus means 'tailed," and the prefix pseudo means "false," of uncertain application.

pseudochi'na: I have been unable to find anything definitive which explains this Linnaeus name from 1753, but its common name, false china root, might provide a clue. There are two species that have commonly been called china root or chinaroot, Smilax glabra, the traditional medicinal chinaroot in China, and Smilax china. And whereas they are Asian species, Smilax pseudochina has a range that extends up the Atlantic Coast of the United States, from Long Island in New York State south to Georgia. So it may be that this taxon is so named just because it looks like and is related to the other Smilax species, but isn't them.

Pseudognaphal'ium: literally false Gnaphalium, this is the new genus name for several species of Gnaphalium, and refers to a superficial resemblance to genus Gnaphalium. The genus Pseudognaphalium was published by Moisey Elevich Kirpicznikov in 1950 and is variously called cudweed, everlasting or rabbit tobacco.

Pseudolycopodiel'la: from the Greek pseudes, "false," and the genus Lycopodiella. The genus Pseudolycopodiella was published by Josef Holub in 1983.

pseudonarcis'sus: from pseudo, "false," or "seeming to be," and the genus Narcissus, of uncertain application.

Pseudosa'sa: false Sasa, a bamboo genus to which this is related. The genus Pseudosasa was published by Takenoshin Nakai in 1925.

Pseudotaenid'ia: means false Taenidia, from pseudo or pseudes, "false," and taena. "a ribbon." The genus Pseudotaenidia was published in 1903 by Kenneth Kent Mackenzie.

pseudoveg'etus: from the Greek pseud(o) meaning "false" and the Latin vegetus meaning "lively, spirited, fast growing, vigorous, of uncertain application."

Psilocar'ya: from the Greek psilos, "naked, bare, glabrous," and karyon, "a nut." The genus Psilocarya was published by John Torrey in 1836.

psilostach'ya: derived from the Greek psilos, "bare" and stachys, "a spike," hence a "bare spike."

Psora'lea: from the Greek meaning psoraleos, "roughly scaled, scabby, itchy" and referring to the glandular dots on the leaves. The genus Psoralea was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

psoralio'ides: resembing genus Psoralea.

psyco'des: butterfly-like, alluding to the fringed petals which resemble the shape of a butterfly.  Psyche, the Greek mythological figure, was represented as a butterfly or winged fairy.  Ancients believed that winged animals like birds and butterflies personified the soul, and from this the word “psyche” evolved.

psyl'lium: from the Greek psylla, "a flea," and psyllion, "a kind of plant, fleawort," this was an old name of a plant used to ward off fleas. Another source says "from Greek psullion, from psulla, "flea" (because the seeds resemble fleas)."

Pte'lea: a Greek name for an elm, and used because the winged fruits are similar, flattened, almost circular, and having a wing around. The genus Ptelea was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called hop-tree or wafer-ash.

Pterid'ium: a diminutive of Pteris, a fern genus. The genus Pteridium was published by Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch in 1760.

Pteris: FNA says from "Greek pteris, "fern," derived from pteron, "wing or feather," for the closely spaced pinnae, which give the leaves a likeness to feathers. The genus Pteris was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Ptilim'nium: the book Aquatic Dicotyledons of North America gives this derivation: "from the Greek ptilon mnion meaning 'feather moss' in reference to the finely dissected leaves." The genus Ptilimnium is called bishop's-weed and was published by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1825.

pu'bens: downy.

pu'bera: grown up, pubescent, arrived at puberty; or downy. With regard to the species Stellaria pubera, Wikipedia says: "The species name, pubera ("hairy"), comes from the lines of hairs that line the stem."

puber'ula: minutely or somewhat pubescent, clothed with miniscule soft downy hairs.

pubes'cens: with soft, downy hair.

pubiflor'um: with downy flower surfaces, from Latin pubis, "downy," that which has arrived at puberty.

Puccinel’lia: named for Benedetto Luigi Puccinelli (1808-1850), a highly regarded Italian botanist and professor of the early nineteenth century. The son of nobleman Carlo Andrea Puccinelli and his wife Maria Domenica Pellegrini, he was born in Coreglia Antelminelli, a village near Lucca in Tuscany. Initially taught by his parents and then a private tutor, he entered the Seminary of Lucca at the age of fifteen to hone his Italian and Latin language skills and to study the humanities. He excelled in ability, diligence and achievement. In 1826 he enrolled at the Royal Lyceum of Lucca, and resisting his father's desire that he pursue legal studies, followed his own inclination for the sciences and graduated in medicine and surgery. That achieved, he devoted himself to botany. In 1833 Puccinelli was appointed stand-in for the ailing professor of botany Paolo Volpi, and the next year the position was formalized. Volpi had also been the first director of the Botanical Garden of Lucca, which was promoted by Maria Luisa of Bourbon during the French occupation and established as an adjunct to the new university, and Puccinelli filled that position as well. At its official opening in 1822 Volpi had planted the iconic cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani) that can be seen in the garden today. Benedetto Puccinelli's dual role continued for seventeen years, from 1833 until his untimely death in 1850. As well as lectures in agriculture, physics, chemistry and botany, he took groups of students on field trips into the countryside to collect, study, cultivate and thus protect the plant species of Lucca, especially those of medicinal value. He continued his own research, and despite frail health, scoured the mountains, valleys and wetlands for material, and when his energy flagged, retreated to the botanical garden. After a long and debilitating illness, and a marriage of just thirteen years, he died on 1 April 1850 at the age of 42, leaving his wife Maria Tessandori and their two children. His major work, describing about 1,500 higher plants of Lucca, including locality and flowering information, was published in 1848. However, his research was not limited to flowering plants. An unpublished manuscript on ferns still exists at the botanical garden, and an almost completed manuscript on fungi, which was to accompany nearly 600 watercolor images by painter and lithographer Guiseppe Bertini, was found 150 years after Puccinelli's death. Benedettto Puccinelli was a member of several scientific organizations and academies. In 1846 he received a silver medal for his contribution to the new Central Herbarium of the Botanical Museum of Florence, directed by internationally renowned botanist Filippo Parlatore (1816–1877). Parlatore also honored him with the genus Puccinellia, a genus of salt grass described in the first volume of his major work Flora Italiana in 1850. He was also the author of Synopsis plantarum in agro lucensi sponte nascentium published in 1841.The genus Puccinellia was published by Parlatore in 1848 and is called alkali grass.

pu'dica: bashful or shrinking, alluding to its shrinking reaction to contact. Although Wiktionary gives many meanings for pudica including chaste, pure, undefiled, and modest, another website says the specific epithet pudica comes from púdeo, "feeling ashamed," for the leaves that retract and close when touched.

Puerar'ia: named for Marc Nicolas Puerari (1766-1845), a Swiss physician, botanist, plant collector and professor. Several sources say he was a military officer and a freemason in Geneva. He was a student of Danish-Norwegian botanist and zoologist Martin Hendriksen Vahl. He came to Copenhagen as a political refugee from Geneva in 1794, where he became a tutor to the merchant Fr. de Coninck and later a professor of French at the University. In 1820 he returned to Geneva, but maintained his connection to Denmark, and from 1826 to 1828 was an adviser and French teacher to Prince Frederik VII. He was visited by Hans Christian Andersen. He left his herbarium to a young compatriot, Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, who published the genus Pueraria in the Fabaceae in his honor in 1825. The genus is called kudzu.

pulchel'la/pulchel'lum/pulchel'lus: derived from the Latin pulcher for "beautiful."

pul'cher: beautiful, handsome, fair.

pul'chra: pretty.

pulverulen'ta: powdery, dust-covered.

pumi'la/pumil'um/pumil'us: dwarf, from Latin pumilus, "small."

pumil'io: from the Latin pumilio, "a pygmy."

puncta'ta/puncta'tum: spotted. The species Hypericum punctatum, called spotted St. John's-wort, has many black dots covering the sepals, petals, stems and leaves.

punctilob'ula: with small dotted lobes" from the Latin root punctus, "a puncture," and lobulus, "a lobe," referriing to the appearance of the sori on the lobes of the pinnules.

pun'gens: spiny, sharp-pointed.

punic'ea/punic'eum: reddish-purple from the Latin punicus, "scarlet."

purpuras'cens: becoming purple or purplish.

purpur'ea/purpur'eum/purpur'eus: purple, from Latin purpura, "purple color, purple dye."

purpurif'era: from purpura, "purple," and fero, "to bear." The common name of Carex purpurifera is purple sedge.

purshia'nus: named for Frederick Traugott Pursh (1774-1820), a Saxon explorer, plant collector, horticulturist and author who studied botany at Dresden where he was on the staff of the Royal Botanical Garden and was educated. He emigrated to the United States in 1799 and lived there until 1811. He worked in Philadelphia from 1802 to 1805 as the botanical manager of an extensive private garden owned by William Hamilton. By 1805 he was working for Benjamin Smith Barton on a flora of North America. He received the plant collections from the Lewis and Clark expedition and was the first to publish on them. In 1805 he travelled south from Maryland to the Carolinas, and the following year north from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire, covering over 3000 miles during each trip, mostly on foot. During this period he also worked for the early botanists William Bartram and Bernard McMahon. The work on his North American flora proceeded slowly in fits and starts and in the end was never published. Pursh made two trips to the West Indies and then left the United States for England, taking with him his specimens and some of the specimens that Clark had given him. In 1813 he made a major contribution to North American botany when he published his Flora americae septentrionalis; or A Systematic Arrangement and Description of The Plants of North America, based on the Lewis and Clark collections. He returned to North America in 1816, botanizing around Quebec and making extensive botanical surveys there. Regrettably all of the material he collected was destroyed in a fire before it could be organized for publication. He became an alcoholic and died in poverty in Montreal at the age of 46. The genus Purshia was published by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1816.

pusil'la/pusil'lum/pusil'lus: small, weak or insignificant, from Latin pusillus, "very small. petty, insignificant."

pycnanthemo'ides: resembling genus Pycnanthem.

Pycnanth'emum: from the Greek pychnos, "dense," and anthemon, "flower," so "densely flowered." The genus Pycnanthemum was published by André Michaux in 1803 and is called mountain-mint.

pycnocar'pa/pycnocar'pus: thickly- or densely-fruited.

pycnosti'chum: from pyknos, "dense, compact, solid, strong" and stichos, "row or rank."

Pyracanth'a: from Greek pyr, "fire," and acanthos, "thorn," alluding to the fiery thorns, and giving rise to the common name of firethorn. The genus Pyracantha was published by Max Joseph Roemer in 1847.

pyracanthifo'lia: with leaves like genus Pyracantha.

pyrifolia: with leaves like genus Pyrus.

Pyro'la: pear-like, from the Latin diminutive of Pyrus, meaning "pear," for the pear-like leaf shape, and a genus commonly called shinleaf or wintergreen. The genus Pyrola was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

pyrophil'um: fire-loving, growing on burnt earth.

Pyrrhopap'pus: from Greek pyrrhos, "yellowish red," and pappos, "pappus," alluding to color of pappi. The genus Pyrrhopappus was published by Achille Richard in 1848 and is called false dandelion.

Pyrular'ia: little pear, from the Latin pyrus or pyrum meaning "pear" and aria meaning "connecting," in allusion to the shape of the fruit. The genus Pyrularia was published by André Michaux in 1803 and is called buffalo-nut.

Py'rus: classical name of the pear, from Latin pyrum, "pear." The genus Pyrus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called pear.

Pyxidanther'a: pyxie moss, from Greek pyxis or pyxidos, "a small box," and anthera or antheros, "anther," alluding to the anthers that open by a transverse slit like the lid of a box. The genus Pyxidanthera was published in 1803 by André Michaux and is called pyxie or pyxie-moss.