Cabom'ba: derived from an indigenous possibly aboriginal name for an aquatic plant in Guiana. The genus Cabomba was published by Jean Baptiste Christophe Fusée Aublet in 1775.

Cacaliop'sis: like genus Cacalia. The genus Cacaliopsis was published by Asa Gray in 1884.

caelesti'num: heavenly, having to do with the heavens, named due to the high elevation location of this taxon (Eriogonum ovalifolium var. caelestinum), possibly derived from caelum, “sky, heaven.”

caeru'lea/caeru'leum: from Latin cerulea, blue, cerulean, dark, greenish-blue, azure, sky-blue.

caerules'cens: bluish or tinted with blue.

Caesalpin'ia: named for Andrea Cesalpino (1519-1603) of Italy. The following is quoted from the Catholic Encyclo-

pedia entry on Cesalpino: "A physician, philosopher, and naturalist, distinguished above all as a botanist; born at Arezzo in Tuscany, Italy, 6 June, 1519; died at Rome, 23 February, 1603. For his studies at the University of Pisa his instructor in medicine was R. Colombo (d. 1559), and in botany the celebrated Luca Ghini (d. 1556). After completing his course he taught philosophy, medicine, and botany for many years at the same university, besides making botanical explorations in various parts of Italy. At this time the first botanical gardens in Europe were laid out; the earliest

at Padua, in 1546; the next at Pisa in 1547 by Ghini, who was its first director. Ghini was succeeded by Cesalpino, who had charge of the Pisan garden 1554-1558. When far advanced in years Cesalpino accepted a call to Rome as professor of medicine at the Sapienza and physician to Pope Clement VIII. It is not positively certain whether he also become the chief superintendent of the Roman botanical garden which had been laid out about 1566 by one of his most celebrated pupils, Michele Mercati (1541-1593). All of Cesalpino's writings show the man of genius and the profound thinker. His style, it is true, is often heavy, yet in spite of the scholastic form in which his works are cast, passages of great beauty often occur. Modern botanists and physiologists who are not acquainted with the writings of Aristotle find Cesalpino's books obscure; their failure to comprehend them has frequently misled them in their judgment of his achievement. No comprehensive summing up of the results of Cesalpino's investigations, founded on a critical study of all his works, has appeared, neither has there been a complete edition of his writings. Seven of these are positively known, and most of the seven have been printed several times, although none have appeared since the seventeenth century. In the following list the date of publication given is that of the first edition. His most important philosophical work is Quaestionum peripateticarum libri V (Florence, 1569). Cesalpino proves himself in this to be one of the most eminent and original students of Aristotle in the sixteenth century. His writings, however, show traces of the influence of Averroes, hence he is an Averroistic Aristotelean; apparently he was also inclined to Pantheism, consequently he was included, later, in the Spinozists before Spinoza. A Protestant opponent of Aristotelean views, Nicholas Taurellus (d. 1606, at Altdorf), who is called 'the first German philosopher,' wrote several times against Cesalpino. The work of Taurellus entitled Alpes caesae, etc. (Frankfort, 1597), is entirely devoted to combating the opinions of Cesalpino, as the play on the name Caesalpinus shows. Nearly one hundred years later Cesalpino's views were again attacked, this time by an Englishman, Samuel Parker (d. 1688), in a work entitled: Disputationes de Deo et providentiâ divinâ (London, 1678). Cesalpino repeatedly asserted the steadfastness of his Catholic principles and his readiness to acknowledge the falsity of any philosophical opinions expounded by him as Aristotelean doctrine, which should be contrary to revelation. In Italy he was in high favour both with the secular and spiritual rulers. Cesalpino's physiological investigations concerning the circulation of the blood are well known, but even up to the present time they have been as often overestimated as undervalued. An examination of the various passages in his writings which bear upon the question shows that although it must be said that Celsalpino had penetrated further into the secret of circulation of the blood than any other physiologist before William Harvey, still he had not attained to a thorough knowledge, founded on anatomical research, of the entire course of the blood. Besides the work Quæstionum peripateticarum already mentioned, reference should be made to Quaestionum medicarum libri duo (Venice, 1593), and to his most important publication De plantis libri XVI (Florence, 1583). This last work has made Cesalpino immortal; the date of its publication, 1583, is one of the most important in the history of botany before Linnaeus. The permission to print the book is dated 27 September, 1581. The work is dedicated to the Grand Duke Francesco de Medici; including dedication and the indexes, it contains some 670 quarto pages, of which 621 are taken up with the text proper. Unlike the 'herbals' of that period, it contains no illustrations. The first section, including thirty pages of the work, is the part of most importance for botany in general. From the beginning of the seventeenth century up to the present day botanists have agreed in the opinion that Cesalpino in this work, in which he took Aristotle for his guide, laid the foundation of the morphology and physiology of plants and produced the first scientific classification of flowering plants. Three things, above all, give the book the stamp of individuality: the large number of original, acute observations, especially on flowers, fruits, and seeds, made, moreover, before the discovery of the microscope, the selection of the organs of fructification for the foundation of his botanical system; finally, the ingenious and at the same time strictly philosophical handling of the rich material gathered by observation. Cesalpino issued a publicatlon supplementary to this work, entitled: Appendix ad libros de plantis et quaestiones peripateticas (Rome, 1603). Cesalpino is also famous in the history of botany as one of the first botanists to make a herbarium; one of the oldest herbaria still in existence is that which he arranged about 1550-60 for Bishop Alfonso Tornabono. After many changes of fortune the herbarium is now in the museum of natural history at Florence. It consists of 260 folio pages arranged in three volumes bound in red leather, and contains 768 varieties of plants. A work of some value for chemistry, mineralogy, and geology was issued by him under the title De metallicis libri tres (Rome, 1596). Some of its matter recalls the discoveries made at the end of the eighteenth century, as those of Lavoisier and Hauy, it also shows a correct understanding of fossils. The Franciscan monk, Karl Plumier (d. 1704), gave the name of Cesalpinia to a species of plants and Linnaeus retained it in his system. At the present day this species includes not over forty varieties and belongs to the sub-order Caesalpinioideae (family Leguminosae), which contains a large number of useful plants." The genus Caesalpinia was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

cae'sius: light blue, or bluish-gray.

caespito'sa/caespito'sum/caespito'sus: caespitose, having a densely-clumped, tufted or cushion-like growth form, with the flowers held above the clump or tuft, alternate spelling cespitose.

Ca'kile: an old Arabic name, qaqulleh, for this plant of unknown or uncertain meaning. The genus Cakile was published by Philip Miller in 1754.

Calamagros'tis: from the Greek kalamos, "a reed or stalk," and agrostis, "grass or weed." The genus Calamagrostis was published by Michel Adanson in 1763.

calamin'tha: beautiful mint, from the Greek name for savory, kalaminthe, from kalos, "beautiful," and minthe, "mint."

ca'lamus: from the Greek kalamos, "a reed or stalk."

Calandrin'ia: named for Jean Louis Calandrini (1703-1758), a professor of mathematics and philosophy, and a

botanical author in Switzerland.  His interests were varied and extended beyond botany to include such things as conic sections, the theory of derivatives, resistance theory, vortex systems, elastic motion relative to sound, and the attraction and mean motion of sound, the moon,  logic and plant physiology. He was the author of studies on the aurora borealis, comets, and the effects of lightning, as well as of an important unpublished work on flat and spherical trigonometry. He also wrote a commentary on the Principia of Isaac Newton. He undertook a three-year journey to

France and England, and  played an active role in the political affairs  of Geneva, taking up a position for a time as treasurer of the city. He was also on the city council and was involved with the restoration of the cathedral of Geneva. The genus Calandrinia was published in his honor by Karl Sigismund Kunth in 1823.

calcara'tus: spurred, furnished with a spur, nearly synonymous by some authors (DeCandolle) with corniculatus, "horned," from Latin calcar, "a spur."

calcar'eus: chalky white, or growing on chalky or lime-rich soils, from Latin calcarius, "pertaining to or of lime."

calceolifor'mis: from the Greek calceolus, "slipper," thus a flower (presumably) in the form or shape of a slipper.

calcico'la: from the Latin calcis, "lime, chalk," and the -cola suffix indicating "a dweller of," thus an inhabitant of limy or carbonate soils.

calcitra'pa: from the Latin calcitro, "to kick," caltrop, a four-pointed weapon usually positioned on the ground to impede enemy movements.

cal'deri: named for James Alexander Calder (1915-1990), a Canadian botanist at the herbarium of the Department of

Agriculture at Ottawa who spent much of his life studying the flora of Ottawa, British Columbia and Yukon Territory. He was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and moved with his family to Ottawa where his father took up an appointment in the Senate. He developed an early interest in plant life and attended Ashbury College (Rockcliffe) and then McGill University where he studied geology. Following his BSc in 1940 he began a postgraduate course while also working as a summer assistant for the Geological Survey of Canada in the Ottawa Valley. When World War I began he

enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and served in Canada, Europe and India. After the war he was offered a position at the herbarium of the Botany and Plant Pathology Division of the Department of Agriculture, remaining there until his early retirement in 1966. In 1948 he published a work on bladderworts entitled Utricularia. He collected first around Ottawa, then in northern Quebec and Baffin Island in 1948. In 1949 he traveled to western Canada to visit the Yukon Territory and several years later began botanical exploration in British Columbia. He was especially interested in Carex and published some works on its taxonomy. His most important work was probably his Flora of the Queen Charlotte Islands, co-authored with Roy Taylor in 1968, but he also produced papers on the Saxifragaceae and the genus Isopyrum. He took early retirement after his proposal for a phyto-geographical treatment of the vascular plants of the Cordilleran region of British Columbia, Yukon Territory and Alberta was rejected, and later moved to the Victoria region of British Columbia. His retirement years were spent mostly with his rhododendron garden, golfing and stamp collecting. He was married and had three sons.

Calen'dula: from the Latin calendae for "calender," and an allusion to this plant's long flowering season. The genus Calendula was published in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus.

calendula'ceum: like Calendula in color, orange-colored. Rhododendron calendulaceum has orange flowers and is called the flame azalea.

Cal'ia/Calibracho'a: named for Antonio de la Cal y Bracho (1766-1833), a Mexican botanist and pharmacologist, disciple of the group of naturalists of the botanical garden of Madrid. He came to Nueva España in 1795 to work as a senior botanist at the San Pedro hospital in the city of Puebla, where he became established and lived until the end of his days. He was a member of the Medical Surgical Academy of Puebla, the city where he founded a botanical garden in 1802. He published Ensayo para la materia médica mexicana in 1832. He died in the city of Puebla during the cholera epidemic in 1833. The genus Calia was published in 1832 by Manuel de Mier y Terán and Jean Louis Berlandier, but was ruled an illegitimate name. The genus Calibrachoa was properly published by Vicente (Vincente) de Cervantes Mendo in 1825.

calidipet'ris: this name may derive from the roots calid, "warm," and petris, "rocks," since one of the described habitats for this species is lava beds. The taxon Erigeron inornatus var. calidipetris is the only taxon listed in IPNI with this varietal name, and it is called either lava rayless fleabane or hot rock daisy.

calienten'sis: from the Caliente Hills in Kern County.

Califor'nia: see next entry. The genus California was published by Juan José Aldasoro, Carmen Navarro Aranda, Pablo Vargas, Llorenç Sáez and Carlos Aedo in 2002. I used to think that California was the only state whose name was also a plant genus, but some online research turned up the genera Georgia and Nevada. Also there are genera which are named Mainea, Vermontea, Wyomingia, Coloradoa, Idahoa, Utahia, and Washingtonia. The last was named in honor of George Washington, but I have no information definitely relating the other generic epithets to the names of the states.

califor'nica/califor'nicum/califor'nicus: of or from California.

calirhi'za: combination of parent species, Polypodium californicum and P. glycyrrhiza. Cali comes from the Greek kalia, "a dwelling," and rhiza, "a root," although that may have nothing to do with the derivation of this epithet.

Callian'dra: from the Greek kallos, "beautiful," and andra, "stamen." The genus Calliandra was published in 1840 by George Bentham.

callian'themus: having beautiful flowers.

callicar'pha: derivation unclear, possibly from the Greek kallos, "beautiful," and karphos, "a splinter, twig, chaff, straw," of uncertain application. The taxon Hulsea vestita ssp. callicarpha is called beautiful hulsea, but what the 'carpha' refers to I don't know.

Calliclad'ium: FNA says from "Greek kallos, "beauty," and klados, "branch or shoot," alluding to the habit." The genus Callicladium was published by Howard Alvin Crum in 1971.

cal'lida: from the Latin callidus, "experienced, skillful, cunning."

cal'lii: named for Dr. Tracey Gillette Call (1915-1994) and his wife Viola Ruth Clifton Call (1920-2002) who taught laboratory classes at Cal Poly in the Biological Sciences Department. David Hollombe sent the following from Who's Who in the West: "Call, Tracey Gillete, educator; born Afton, Wyoming, May 31, 1915; AB, Brigham Young Uuniversity, 1947; B.S., Idaho State College, 1940; MS, University of Maryland, 1944; PhD, University of Minnesota, 1956; married Viola Ruth Clifton, Jan. 27, 1941; assistant professor of pharmacognosy and pharmacology at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, 1945-1946; assistant professor at University of Wyoming, Laramie, 1947-1949; associate professor at Montana State University, Missoula, 1949-1957; Research Department, Sunkist Growers, Inc., Corona, California, 1957-1961; project director W.L.R.I., Colton, California, 1961-62; professor of biology at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, 1962- ; fellow, American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education; member of the American Society of Pharmacognosy, Society for Economic Botany, NY, California Academy of Sciences; member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." He discovered this taxon (Angelica callii) with his wife.

calliopsid'ea: having the form or appearance of genus Calliopsis.

Calliscir'pus: from the Greek kallos, "beautiful," and the genus Scirpus. The genus Calliscirpus was published by Claire N. Gilmour in 2013.

Callis'temon: from the Greek kalli or kallos, "beautiful," and stemon, a stamen, in reference to the extraordinary beauty of the flowers of this genus.

callis'tum/callis'tus: very (most) beautiful.

Calli'triche: from the Greek kallos, "beautiful," and trichos, "hair," because of the beautiful stems.

Callitrop'sis: resembling Callitris, an Australian genus of conifers in the Cupressaceae, which derives from the Greek kalli, "beautiful," and treis or tria, "three," referring to the three-leaved whorls. The genus Callitropsis was published by Robert Harold Compton in 1922.

callo'sa: having a hard skin, calloused, from Latin callosus, "thick-skinned," from callus, callum, "hard skin."

Caloced'rus: from the Greek kallos, "beautiful" and kedros, "cedar," thus meaning "beautiful cedar." The genus Calocedrus was published by Wilhelm Sulpiz Kurz in 1873.

Calochor'tus: derived from the Greek word kallos for "beautiful" and chortus, "grass," referring to the grassy leaves. The genus Calochortus was published in 1814 by Frederick Traugott Pursh.

calocya'num: probably from the Greek kallos, "beautiful," and kyanos, old name of some dark blue substance or lapis-lazuli."

Cal'tha: one source says a Latin name for the marigold, while another says a Greek name for some yellow-flowered plants, possibly derived from the ancient Greek word kalathos, meaning "goblet," and said to refer to the shape of the flower. The genus Caltha was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

calthifo'lia: having leaves like those of the genus Caltha in the buttercup family, commonly called marsh-marigold.

cal'vus: bald, hairless, naked, from a PIE word word for "bald, naked."

Calycaden'ia: from the Greek kalyx, "cup or covering," and aden, "gland," alluding to the cup-like calyx. The genus Calycadenia was published by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1836.

calycan'tha/Calycan'thus: calyx-flower, from the Greek kalyx, "covering, cup, calyx," and anthos, "flower," and referring to the similarity between the sepals and petals. An alternative derivation is suggested in a website on European trees, "canthusis a Latin word which means 'the wheel' or 'the iron band which encircles the wheel,' in allusion to the radiate form of the flower." Stearn says "The calyx and the petals are the same color." The genus Calycanthus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1759.

calycin'a/calycin'um/calycin'us: calyx-like, with a persistent calyx.

calyco'sa/calyco'sum/calyco'sus: having a full calyx.

Calycos'eris: from the Greek kalyx, "cup," and seris, a chicory-like genus. The genus Calycoseris was published by Asa Gray in 1853.

calycula'ta: from the Latin calyculus, "a small flower bud."

Calyp'so: named for the sea nymph Calypso or Kalypso, daughter of Atlas, who entertained Odysseus for seven more or less involuntary years during his voyage home from the Trojan Wars but was finally persuaded to let him go when Zeus sent Hermes to intervene on his behalf. The genus Calypso was published by Richard Anthony Salisbury in 1807.

Calyptrid'ium: from the Greek kaluptra, "a cap, covering or veil, because of the way the petals close over the caps. The genus Calyptridium was published by Thomas Nuttall in 1838.

Calyste'gia: from two Greek words kalux, "cup," and stegos, "a covering," and thus meaning "a covering cup" (?). The genus Calystegia was published by Robert Brown in 1810.

camaldulen'sis: referring to the Camaldoli Garden near Naples in Italy.

cam'ara: a South American vernacular name for a species of Lantana.

Camas'sia: from native American (Shoshone) words Camas and quamash for "sweet or fruit" in reference to the importance of this plant as a food source. Wikipedia says: "Qém'es, a term for the plant's bulb, which was gathered and used as a food source by tribes in the Pacific Northwest, and were an important food source for the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806). The bulbs are or were harvested and pit-roasted or boiled by women of the Nez Perce, Cree, and Blackfoot tribes." The genus Camassia was published by John Lindley in 1832.

Camelin'a: from the Greek camai, "dwarf," and linon, "flax," the common name for the genus being false-flax. This is an example of the term "dwarf" being used in the sense of "false." Another example is the genus Chamaecyparissus, the common name of which is false cypress. The genus Camelina was published by Heinrich Johann Nepomuk von Crantz in 1762.

Camisson'ia: named for Ludolf Karl Adelbert von Chamisso (1781-1838), a French-born German poet and botanist

who was a botanist on the ship Rurik which visited California in 1816, and who named the California poppy for his friend Dr. Johann Friedrich Gustav von Eschscholtz. He was born with the name Vicomte de Chamisso and baptized Louis Charles Adélaïde and later in Prussia took the name Adelbert. When he was nine, Chamisso's family escaped the terrors of the French Revolution by taking refuge in Berlin. He had little formal education but from 1798 to 1810 he was in the Prussian army and appeared on track to make that a career. While in the army he assiduously

studied natural science for three years. Around 1803 he helped to establish a literary publication in which his first work was published, but that enterprise foundered several years later. After leaving the army he was for no reason that I can determine offered a professorship at the lycée at Napoléonville in the Vendée, but instead went to Switzerland where he studied botany intensively for two years. From 1812 he was back in Berlin continuing his scientific studies and writing the prose narrative Peter Schlemihl, the most famous of his works. In 1815, Chamisso was appointed botanist to the Russian ship Rurik for a voyage around the world, a voyage that took three years. During this trip Chamisso described a number of new species found in what is now the San Francisco Bay area. Several of these, including the California poppy, Eschscholzia californica, were named for his friend Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, who was the Rurik's entomologist. In return, Eschscholtz named a variety of plants, including the genus Camissonia, after Chamisso. He kept a diary, Voyage Around the World with the Romanzov Discovery Expedition (1836) which became a classic of its kind. On his return in 1818 he was made custodian of the botanical gardens in Berlin. One of his most important botanical contributions, done in conjunction with Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal, was the description of many of the most important trees of Mexico in 1830–1831. His last scientific labor was a tract on the Hawaiian language. In his 48th year he turned back to literature and was regarded highly as a poet. He died in Berlin.

Camissoniop'sis: from the generic name Camissonia and the Greek opsis, "aspect, view, appearance," thus meaning "having the appearance of Camissonia." The genus Camissoniopsis was published by Warren Lambert Wagner and Peter C. Hoch in 2007.

campaniflor'a: with bell-shaped flowers.

Campan'ula: small bell, a diminutive of the late Latin campana, "a bell," alluding to the bell-like form of the flower. Species in this family are called bellflowers. Campanula was published in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus.

campanular'ia: bell-flowered or bell-shaped, like Campanula, the bellflower.

campanula'ta/campanula'tum/campanula'tus: bell-shaped.

campbelli'ae: named for Elizabeth Ballard Thompson Campbell. Referred to as 'Mount Hamilton's Lady Bountiful,' she was the wife of William Wallace Campbell, director of the Lick Observatory from 1901 to 1930. An abstract in the Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society says: "College-educated, talented and capable, her devotion extended beyond her home and family of three sons to being a true helpmate to her husband. 'Bessie' served on Mount Hamilton as hostess to the world of astronomy, as a public relations person via the writing of friendly, descriptive letters to absent staff members and possible donors, and as psychologist to humanize the brlliant but very intense W.W. Her greatest contribution to W.W.'s outstanding career came in her service as major domo for the eclipse expeditions to India, Spain, Flint Island, Russia and Australia. Her planning of the food supplies and her administration of the daily living needs at the end of the earth enabled the astronomers to concentrate on their work, well-fed and comfortable. Bessie learned to operate a spectrograph and to develop plates under primitive conditions. Best of all, Bessie kept detailed diaries of the eclipse expeditions and for two of them wrote complete manuscripts. Although she always stressed W.W.'s intelligence and importance, Bessie too was very intelligent and had an important role in his success." (Arctostaphylos X campbelliae)

campbelli'ae: named for Marian Louise Waldron (Mrs. Robert G. Campbell) (1865-1963). She was born in Sandstone, Sandstone Township, Jackson, Michigan, She was married in 1886 and had five children. She lived in Jackson, Michigan, in 1900 and San Francisco, California, in 1910. She died on 17 November 1963, in Santa Clara, California, at the age of 98. (Lupinus campbelliae)

campbellia'na: named for American botanist Douglas Houghton Campbell (1859-1953), one of the 15 founding pro-

fessors of Stanford University. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, graduated from Detroit High School in 1878, and studied botany at the University of Michigan, receiving a master’s degree in 1882. He taught botany at Detroit High School while doing research for his PhD which he was awarded in 1886. He traveled to Germany to learn more microscopy techniques, a subject he had already been studying. Upon his return he became a professor at Indiana University from 1888 to 1891 and wrote the textbook Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany. In 1891 he became the

head of the botany department at Stanford and remained there until he retired in 1925. In 1895, having studied mosses and liverworts, he published the textbook The Structure and Development of Mosses and Ferns which became the authoritative work on the subject. He published two further texts, Lectures on the Evolution of Plants (1899) and University Textbook of Botany (1902). He was president of the Botanical Society of America in 1913 and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1910. He was a member of the Linnaean Society of London, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Deutsche Botanische Gesellschaft, the International Association of Botanists, and the American Philosophical Society. He established a reputation as one of the leading botanists of the United States. JSTOR says: “While on botanical expeditions he often made watercolours of places visited as an aide-memoire superior to a diary, and made sure to seek out tropical areas where he might find endemic ferns, especially eusporangiate (ferns whose sporangia arise from several epidermal cells and not from a single cell as in leptosporangiate ferns) ones. In the early 1890s he visited Hawaii, followed by Jamaica (1898), Europe (1899-1900), New Zealand and Australia (1903), Europe, South Africa, the East Indies and Japan (1905-1906), the West Indies again (1908) and the Mediterranean region (1910). Campbell made his second round-the-world voyage in 1912-1913, this time taking in the Suez Canal and more locations in the East Indies. He returned to Hawaii in 1917 and New Zealand and Australia in 1921. A book based on these explorations, An Outline of Plant Geography, appeared in 1926. He never married but lived with a Stanford colleague, Professor Allardice, until Allardice's death in 1928.” He died at the age of 93 in Palo Alto, California.

campes'tre/campes'tris: of the fields or open plains.

camphora'tum: pertaining to or resembling camphor.

campor'um: relating to plains or fields, from Latin campus, "a plain, field, open country, level place."

camp'ylon: bent, curved, from Greek kampylos.

campylopo'dum: with a curved or bent stem or stalk.

ca'na/ca'num/ca'nus: ash-colored, gray, hoary.

canaden'sis: of or referring to Canada.

canarien'se/canarien'sis: of or from the Canary Islands.

Can'bya/can'byi: named for William Marriott Canby (1831-1904), a Delaware businessman, banker, philanthropist

and avid botanist. He was well known as a leading expert on the flora of Delaware and the eastern shore of Maryland. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he received education at the Friends School at Westtown, PA, and from private tutors, and conducted several successful businesses in Wilmington, Delaware, using the profits derived therefrom to fund his extensive travels through North America collecting plants for his personal herbarium. He was one of the founders of the Delaware Western Railroad, and the first president of Wilmington's Board of Park Commissioners.

He is credited with being the person most responsible for creating Wilmington's city parks. From 1880 until his death Canby was president of the Wilmington Savings Fund Trust and was also a trustee of the Union Bank and director of the Delaware Fire Insurance Company. His collecting trips spanned much of the northern and eastern states, and by 1893 he had amassed a collection of 30,000 specimens which he sold in that year to the New York College of Pharmacy, before immediately embarking upon the collection of a second herbarium which would number some 15,000 specimens and which was donated to the Natural History Society of Delaware. Some of his most important expeditions include his participation on the Northern Transcontinental Survey, on which trip he served as head of the Division of Economic Botany. In 1898 he accompanied John Muir and Charles Sprague Sargent of Harvard's Arnold Arboretum on a journey to the Appalachians, and in 1902, two years before his death, accompanied Muir when the pair visited Alaska. He also worked with taxonomist Asa Gray and the great landscape architect Frederic Law Olmsted, and corresponded with Charles Darwin about a subject he was especially interested in, insectivorous plants, particularly venus fly traps and pitcher plants. Darwin was enamored of him and called him Dr. Canby although he had no degree. He died in Augusta, Georgia, at the age of 72. The genus Canbya was published in his honor by Asa Gray in 1886 based on an earlier description by Charles Christopher Parry in 1877. (Photo credit: Wisconsin Historical Society)

candela'brum: like a branched candlestick.

can'dicans: white, from the Latin candicans, present participle of candicare, “to be whitish,”

can'dida: shining or pure white.

candidis'simum: very white.

candol'lei: named for Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (1778-1841), an influential systematist who

coined the term ‘taxonomy’ and also an important figure in the field of chronobiology.  He was born in Geneva, Switzerland, into a family that had descended from one of the ancient families of Provence in France but which had relocated to Geneva at the end of the 16th century to escape religious persecution. Despite a severe case of hydrocephalus at the age of seven, he distinguished himself in school and in 1794 began his scientific studies at the Collège de Calvin, the oldest public secondary school in Geneva. where he studied science and law and then moved to Paris in 1796,

where René Louiche Desfontaines recommended him for work in the herbarium of Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle. The following is quoted from Wikipedia: “De Candolle's first books, Plantarum historia succulentarum (4 vols., 1799) and Astragalogia (1802), brought him to the notice of Georges Cuvier and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. De Candolle, with Cuvier's approval, acted as deputy at the Collège de France in 1802. Lamarck entrusted him with the publication of the third edition of the Flore française (1803–1815), and in the introduction entitled Principes élémentaires de botanique, de Candolle proposed a natural method of plant classification as opposed to the artificial Linnaean method. The premise of de Candolle's method is that taxa do not fall along a linear scale; they are discrete, not continuous. In 1804, de Candolle published his Essai sur les propriétés médicales des plantes and was granted a doctor of medicine degree by the medical faculty of Paris. Two years later, he published Synopsis plantarum in flora Gallica descriptarum. De Candolle then spent the next six summers making a botanical and agricultural survey of France at the request of the French government, which was published in 1813. In 1807 he was appointed professor of botany in the medical faculty of the University of Montpellier, where he would later become the first chair of botany in 1810. While in Montpellier, de Candolle published his Théorie élémentaire de la botanique (Elementary Theory of Botany, 1813), which introduced a new classification system and the word 'taxonomy.' He moved back to Geneva in 1816 and in the following year was invited by the government of the Canton of Geneva to fill the newly created chair of natural history. De Candolle spent the rest of his life in an attempt to elaborate and complete his natural system of botanical classification. De Candolle published initial work in his Regni vegetabillis systema naturale, but after two volumes he realized he could not complete the project on such a large scale. Consequently, he began his less extensive Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis in 1824. However, he was able to finish only seven volumes, or two-thirds of the whole. Even so, he was able to characterize over one hundred families of plants, helping to lay the empirical basis of general botany." Although de Candolle's main focus was botany, throughout his career he also dabbled in fields related to botany, such as phytogeography, agronomy, paleontology, medical botany, and economic botany. De Candolle originated the idea of ‘Nature's war’, which influenced Charles Darwin and the principle of natural selection. Augustin de Candolle died in 1841 in Geneva, after a long illness.

canes'cens: covered with short gray or white hairs, from Latin canescens, present participle of canescere, “to become gray or white.”

canifol'ium: from the Latin canus, "gray," and folium, "leaf," referring to the leaf color.

cani'na/cani'num: relating to dogs. From Dog Valley, eastern Sierra County, for Ivesia aperta var. canina. The other taxon in California that bears this epithet is Rosa canina, commonly called the dog rose. Another related derivation for other taxa is given by Gledhill: "sharp-toothed or -spined, repellant to dogs, usually implying inferiority, wild or not of cultivation," and Stearn says: "applied metaphorically to an inferior kind, e.g. a scentless as opposed to a scented species."

canna'binum: hemp-like.

Cann'abis: from Latin cannabis and Greek kannabis, "hemp," said to come from Arabic kinnab or Persian kannab. Wikipedia says "The plant name Cannabis is derived originally from a Scythian or Thracian word, which was adapted by the Persians as kanab, then by the Greeks as kánnabis, and subsequently into Latin as cannabis. The history of this word is one of the most complex that I have encountered, and an entire article in Wikipedia is devoted exclusively to the etymology of Cannabis. The genus Cannabis was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

cannoni'ae: named for Evelina Cannon (1823-1902), American music teacher, botanist and botanical collector. Many of her collections are in the Pringle Herbarium at the University of Vermont and others at the UCSC Herbarium at UC Santa Cruz. She was employed as an assistant at the California Academy of Sciences from 1895 to 1901, and was a member of the Torrey Botanical Society and the California Botanical Club.

canovi'rens: greenish-white or gray-green. According to Jaeger's Source-book, one of the definitions of the Latin canus is "white, hoary, foamy, gray," and for vireo, he has "to be green or verdant."

cantelo'vii: named for Herbert Clair Cantelow (1875-1965). There is very little information available about this individual, but Who's Who in the West (1960) gives the following: "Cantelow, Herbert Clair, transportation exec.; born Vaca Valley, Cal., July 24 1875; son of William and Adaline (Pond) Cantelow; graduated Comml. High School, San Francisco; married Ella Dales Miles, Dec. 31, 1896; 1 son, E. Miles. Executive, Kosmos Line, also Pacific Mail S.S. Co., Pacific Coast S.S. Co., and Admiral Line, 1904-1922; vice-president., Pacific Coast manager, Luckenbach S.S. Co., 1922-27; general manager, Alaska S.S. Co., 1928-1932; chairman, Pacific Coast Lumber & S.S. Confs., 1939-1940; chairman, Marine Terminal Association of Central California, Oakland, 1937--; mayor, Ross, California, 1938-1942; member Chamber of Commerce (past director, past vice-president), Waterfront Employers Association (past pres. in Seattle and in Cal.)." He began as a freight clerk with Oregon Railway and Navigation Co. Early directories show him working there and as head of H. C. Cantelow Fruit Company. Obituaries also mention that he was a member of the Photographic Society of America and the Berkeley Camera Club and a life member of the California Academy of Sciences. He and his wife together collected the type of Lewisia cantelovii. He also had a daughter who only lived two years.

cantharifor'me: possible from the Greek root kantharos, "drinking cup" probably for the short, wide, cup-shaped hypanthium, thus "cup-shaped."

capen'sis: of or from the Cape of Good Hope.

capera'ta: wrinkled, from the Latin caperatus.

capilla'ceus: resembling hair, very slender, from capillus, "hair."

capilla're/capilla'ris: hair-like, pertaining to hair, relating to any structure as fine as a hair.

capil'lipes: slender-stalked, from Latin meaning slender-footed (capillus for "hair" and pes for "foot," in apparent reference to the thin flower/fruit stalks.

capil'lus-ven'eris: the history of the derivation of this specific epithet is extremely complicated and is tied in with the derivation of the common name, maidenhair fern. It was originally published in 1753 by Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum. To my knowledge, capillus has not been used in any other plant epithet in California, and only a few times elsewhere, however 'veneris' has been used as a specific epithet in more than a dozen other taxa but not in California. Stearn's Dictionary of Plant Names says that capillus-veneris derives from two Greek words referring to "hair" and "Venus," hence "Venus-haired," however Fuller Theological Seminary Professor of Historical Theology John L. Thompson in an e-mail to Tom Chester elaborated on this derivation as follows: "Veneris is the traditionally polite word in Latin for sexual desire, and it applies equally to men or women.  It takes on a slang usage as a euphemism for various sexual organs, male as well as female, but it works as a euphemism precisely because it's polite.  Thus the 'maiden' of maidenhair has been imported by the coiner of the English common name, perhaps, but it's not part of the Latin capillus-veneris. Indeed, capillus usually means hair of the head, not body, but 'hair of desire' could indeed be a euphemism for pubic hair." He also refers to the fact that when this fern is removed from water it will be dry as the water will not cling to it, and that Venus's hair was supposedly dry when she arose from the sea, thereby creating a connection between this plant and Venus's hair. My speculation is that the term veneris has been most often used to mean "beauty, charm, loveliness."

capita'ta/capita'tum/capita'tus: capitate, refers to the way the flowers form in a head-like cluster, from the Latin capitatus meaning "forming a head."

capitella'ta/capitella'tum: having a small head.

capparid'eum: from the Greek kapparis, a kind of plant (the caper), and the suffix -ideum, denoting similarity.

capreola'ta: having tendrils, twining, from Latin capreolus, "a tendril."

Caprifolia'ceae: this family name is taken from the Latin root caper, "goat," and folium, "leaf," of uncertain application. There is a genus Caprifolium and a species called Lonicera caprifolia, the common name of which is goat's leaf, and it has been suggested that goats like some species of honeysuckles.

Capsel'la: Latin for "a little box." FNA says from "Latin capsa, 'box or case,' alluding to fruit resembling a medieval wallet or purse." The genus Capsella was published by Friedrich Kasimir Medikus in 1792.

ca'put-medus'ae: caput is a form of the words capitis or capitulum for "head or head-like, having a head," and of course Medusa was a mythic monstrous figure, one of the three Gorgons, whose hair was living snakes and whose gaze could turn people to stone, so "head of Medusa," originating from the apparent similarity to Medusa's head.

caracasa'na: of or from Caracus, Venezuela.

Caraga'na: a Mongolian name. According to Merriam-Webster, "of Turkic origin; akin to Kyrgyz karaghan, meaning 'Siberian pea tree.' "The genus Caragana was published by Philipp Conrad Fabricius in 1763.

Cardam'ine: originally from the Greek kardamis for a kind of cress. The genus Cardamine was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Cardar'ia: Greek for "heart-shaped," from the fruit. The genus Cardaria was published by Nicaise Augustin Desvaux in 1814.

cardina'le/cardina'lis: red, possibly referring to the color of the garb worn by cardinals (is it only a coincidence that the red bird is called a cardinal?).

Cardione'ma: from the Greek cardia, "heart," and nema, "thread," because of the inversely cordate stamens. The genus Cardionema was published by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1828.

cardiophyl'la: with heart-shaped leaves.

cardot'ii: named for Jules Cardot (1860-1934), a French botanist and bryologist considered one of the world’s leading authorities on Antarctic mosses. The following information was gleaned from the JSTOR website. He was born in Stenay (Lorraine) and, on completion of his studies in classics, became interested in botany. He published his first work at the age of 22. After touring his home region of Meuse, the Ardennes and some of Belgium, beginning his study of mosses, and establishing a good working relationship with Ferdinand Francois Gabriel Renauld, he studied plant specimens from Japan, Taiwan, West Africa, Madagascar, Mexico and Antarctica, publishing extensive accounts including a moss flora of Magellanica, South Georgia, and Antarctic regions in 1908 entitled La flore bryologique des terres magellaniques and Mousses de Madagascar (1916). He also co-authored Mosses of Alaska. His home was in Charleville but between 1915 and 1917 Cardot spent much of his time in the phanerogamic section at the National Museum in Paris. The German occupation in 1919 resulted in the looting of his house and the destruction of much of his impressive herbarium, including unstudied specimens that well may have represented undescribed species. He eventually sold the remaining specimens in his collection to the National Museum. At some point he decided to quit botany and returned to Paris to work for the Economic Bureau of the Indo-Chinese government, among other things producing publications on the products of Indo-China, including rice, rubber, silk and perfume. Reconsidering his decision he returned to bryology, and eventually named 40 genera and some 1,200 species. The most important of his monographs concerned the families Fontinalaceae and Leucobryaceae, and in addition he specialised in the Rosaceae.

cardua'cea: thistle-like.

cardun'culus: resembling a small thistle, thistle-like, from Latin carduus, "thistle," one source says a diminutive of Carduus.

Car'duus: the classical Latin name for thistle. The genus Carduus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Car'ex: the classical Latin name from the Latin word for sedge. It comes from the Greek word kairo which means "to cut," alluding to the long narrow leaves in which some species have sharp edges. The genus Carex was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

car'eyi: named for John Carey (1797-1880), a British botanist who studied in North America between 1830 and 1852.

Carey was a frequent guest and invaluable companion to Asa Gray. Carey revised Gray's proofs of the first edition of the Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States, also contributing articles on Salix (willows), Populus (poplars), and Carex (sedges). In his obituary, Gray described Carey as "a near and faithful friend, an accomplished botanist, a genial and warm-hearted and truly good man." John Carey described several species, primarily in the genus Carex, including Carex grayi. Several species are named in his honor, including Carex careyana and Persicaria careyi.

(Information from Wikipedia.

car'ica: the Latin name carica, derived from the Greek karike, which was a kind of fig, was given to the papaya, or paw paw because of the latter's fig-like leaves. Stearn further suggests that the name refers to an area in Asia Minor called Caria, where figs were extensively cultivated. Ficus carica is the common edible fig, and as far as I know this is the only taxon in California with this epithet.

carina'ta/carina'tum/carina'tus: keeled somewhat like a boat, referring to the shape of seeds or flowers, from the Latin carina, "a keel."

carlot'ta-hal'liae: named for Carlotta Case Hall (1880-1949), an American botanist and university professor who collected and published on ferns. She was born in Kingsville, Ohio, and studied botany and zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a BS in 1904. She married Harvey Monroe Hall who was a botanist and professor of botany at the University of California, Berkeley in 1910. Their daughter, Martha Hall, was born in 1916. Carlotta Hall became a fern collector and an assistant professor of botany at the University of California, Berkeley. She published on ferns of the Pacific Coast and co-wrote the illustrated handbook A Yosemite Nature (1912) with her husband as a pocket-sized botanical guidebook to Yosemite National Park. The book covers more than 900 species, omitting only the grasses, sedges, and rushes. She was a member of the California Academy of Sciences and a corresponding member of several European scientific societies. She became a member of the suffrage movement during the Progressive Era when women were becoming more involved in public social issues, and helped organize and direct events that led to the victory of women's suffrage both in California and nationwide. As a graduate of the University of California Berkeley, she was a member of the College Equal Suffrage League of Northern California. In May 1911, Hall was elected as one of the directors of the College Equal Suffrage League. She served on the advisory committee at the headquarters and helped with the organization of the 1911 suffrage campaign. The league was instrumental in helping pass the suffrage amendment in California in October of that year. She died in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at the age of 69.

Carlowright'ia: named for Charles Wright (1811-1885), an American botanical collector. He was born in Wethersfield,

Connecticut, and he studied the classics and mathematics at Yale. His career began as a tutor for a family in Natchez, Mississippi, then he moved to Texas to work as a teacher and a surveyor for the Pacific Railroad Company, but he soon began collecting plants and sending specimens to Professor Asa Gray at Harvard, eventually becoming one of his most trusted collectors. Gray procured passage for him on an Army supply mission in 1849 across western Texas, but he ended up walking almost 700 miles from San Antonio to El Paso, all the time keeping his eyes glued to the ground

the better to see small desert flowering plants. In 1851, again with Gray’s help, he became part of the Mexican Boundary Survey, and helped collect many of the 2,600 species that were sent back to Professor John Torrey for description and identification. His name was honored by George Engelmann who gave it to a cactus, Opuntia wrightii. Asa Gray based the first botanical work published by the Smithsonian on Wright's collection, Plantae Wrightianae (1852–53). Altogether he spent eight years botanizing in Texas and another eleven in Cuba. Wikipedia adds: “Between 1853 and 1856, he took part in the Rodgers-Ringgold North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition, collecting plants in Madeira, Cape Verde, Cape Town, Sydney, Hong Kong, Japan (at Hakodate, Tanegashima, the Bonin Islands and the Ryukyu Islands including Okinawa) and the western side of the Bering Strait. He collected over 500 specimens while the ships were delayed at Simon's Bay, near Cape Town. Wright left the expedition at San Francisco in February 1856 and went south to Nicaragua. His collection of plants from Hong Kong was used by George Bentham for his Flora Hongkongensis (1861). Between 1856 and 1867, he led a [number of] scientific expeditions to Cuba. In 1859 he joined Juan Gundlach in the area around Monteverde, and in the winter of 1861-1862 they explored together around Cárdenas. He was also still in communication with Asa Gray and via him, Charles Darwin, discussing orchids. This was possible because at the start of the American Civil War, he was in Cuba and Gray kept him there until 1864 to keep him safe and his ongoing botanical work intact. In 1871, he went with the US Commission to Santo Domingo. From 1875-1876, he was the librarian of the Bussey Institution at Harvard University.” In 1868 he served as acting director of the Gray Herbarium. He is commemorated in the genus Carlowrightia of the Acanthaceae, and in the names of many species. Wright, who never married, spent his last days in Wethersfield with his brother and sisters, all unmarried, and died on August 11, 1885, of a heart ailment dating back to his years in Cuba. The genus Carlowrightia was published by Asa Gray in 1878.

Carlquis'tia: named for Sherwin Carlquist (1930-2021) who studied botany at the University of California, Berkeley,

with postdoctoral study at Harvard University. He was born in Los Angeles in 1930 and was an avid early visitor to the Huntington Gardens. He spent 37 years on the faculty of the Claremont Colleges and Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, later moving his research to the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. He has specialized in studies on plant anatomy (chiefly wood anatomy) and island biology (7 books, nearly 300 scientific papers). He had a successful career, especially in teaching and research, as a professor at Pomona College and Claremont Graduate School, Claremont,

California. He made dozens of trips beginning in 1953 to islands all over the world and called islands laboratories of evolution. He was an eager photographer and took hundreds of thousands of photographs while on field trips. He was an early proponent of the idea that Hawaiian silverswords arrived in Hawaii by long-distance dispersal. He was co-author in 2003 with Bruce Baldwin and Gerald D. Carrs of Tarweeds and Silverswords: Evolution of the Madiinae (Asteraceae), and author of Island Life: a Natural History of the Islands of the World, Comparative Plant Anatomy: a Guide to Taxonomic and Evolutionary Application of Anatomical Data in Angiosperms, The Genus Fitchia (Compositae), Hawaii, a Natural History: Geolegy, Climate, Native Flora and Fauna Above the Shoreline, and others. (Photo credit: Permission granted to use under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 by Sherwin Carlquist. The genus Carlquistia was published by Bruce Baldwin in 1999. (Information in part from the Santa Barbara Independent)

car'nea: flesh-colored, from Latin caro, "flesh," and carneus, "fleshy."

Carne'giea: named for Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), the internationally renowned Scottish philanthropist. The

following is quoted from Virtualology.com: "Andrew Carnegie was an American who owned industries and was charitable. At age 33 he had an annual income of $50,000. He said, 'Beyond this, never earn, make no effort to increase fortune, but spend the surplus each year for benevolent purposes.' Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland. He went to the US in 1848 and began work shortly after his arrival as a threading machine attendant in a cotton mill in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. He got paid $1.20 a week. In 1849 he became a messenger in a Pittsburgh telegraph

office. He was next employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad as a private secretary to Thomas Alexander Scott. Carnegie got promoted many times until he was superintendent of the Pittsburgh part of the railroad. He invested in what is now called the Pullman Company and in oil land near Oil City. During the Civil War he served in the War Department under Thomas Alexander Scott. Scott was in charge of military transportation and government telegraphs. After the war was over he went and formed a company that made iron railroad bridges. He founded a steel mill and was one of the first people to use the Bessemer process. In 1899 he put all of his interests together in the Carnegie Steel Company. He was responsible for almost 25% of the American iron and steel production. In 1901 he sold his company to the United States Steel Corp. for $250 million dollars. He then retired. Carnegie never received a formal education during his childhood but donated more then $350 million dollars to many different educational, cultural, and peace organizations. His first gift was in 1873. His largest gift was in 1911 for $125 million dollars to the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He also donated money for the construction of what is now the International Court of Justice for the United Nations at The Hague, Netherlands. Carnegie was honored throughout his lifetime." The genus Carnegiea was published by Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose in 1908.

carn'ei: named for Walter Mervyn Carne (1885-1952), an Australian agricultural botanist. The following information comes from the Australian Dictionary of Biography. He was born at Croydon, Sydney, and educated at Fort Street Public School, Sydney Boys' High School and Sydney Technical College. For five years from 1906 to 1911 he was a laboratory assistant at Hawkesbury Agricultural College. He studied at the University of Sydney in 1912 and the next year at the University of California. On his return he became an assistant agrostologist with the Department of Agriculture. He enlisted in the military in 1915, serving in the Middle East, and was commissioned in 1919. He was able to collect specimens in Palestine and Jordan. Upon his return he became a science master at Hawkesbury for two years before joining the Western Australian Department of Agriculture in 1923 as economic botanist and plant pathologist. In 1829 he was a senior plant pathologist for the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and concentrating on non-parasitic disorders in apples, he visited England in 1931 to examine Australian apples and pears that had been brought into that country. He spent the years 1932 to 1935 in Tasmania and was Fruit Officer at Australia House in London from 1936 to 1937. He continued to work in these fields and joined the staff of the Department of Commerce and Agriculture in Melbourne in 1941, remaining until his retirement in 1950. He was a pioneer of plant pathology and fruit storage in Australia. He was a member of the Linnean Society of London, president of the Royal Society of Western Australia, and published many articles. He died at Sydney.

car'neum: flesh-colored, deep pink, from Latin carnis, "flesh," and carneus, "flesh-colored."

carno'sa: fleshy, from the Latin carnosus, "fleshy, pulpy."

carno'sula/carno'sulum: from the Latin carnosus, "fleshy," and the diminutive suffix ula, thus "somewhat fleshy."

caro'li-henri'ci: named for Karl Heinz Rechinger (1906-1998), an Austrian botanist and phytogeographer born in Vienna. His father was the Austrian botanist Karl Rechinger who studied at the University of Vienna, earning his doctorate in 1893, and served as a demonstrator, followed by work as an assistant at the university botanical garden. Beginning in 1902 Karl Rechinger worked at various functions at the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna, and from 1918 onward, he served as a curator of the botany department. When Karl Heinz Rechinger was a young man, family holidays to the Alps introduced him to mountain flora. He also took great interest in the flora to be found on the plains east of Vienna, and he made trips to Switzerland, Sweden and Czechoslovakia to observe the flora of these countries. The following is quoted from Wikipedia: “He studied botany, geography and geology at the University of Vienna, and beginning in 1928, worked as a demonstrator under Richard Wettstein in Vienna's institute of botany. He was for almost 35 years the director of the department of botany at the Natural History Museum in Vienna, where from 1961 to 1971 he was the museum's director. He made important contributions involving flora native to southwestern Asia and Greece, being recognized for his work on Flora Iranica and as the author of Flora Aegaea. As a taxonomist, he described many species of plants. Rechinger was also a lecturer of botany at the University of Vienna, and in 1956–57 was a visiting professor in Baghdad, where he founded a herbarium. He was in 1971 elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.”  He made a total of nine expeditions to Iran and also explored parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan collecting much material for the Vienna Naturhistorisches Museum. In 1964 he published Flora of Lowland Iraq. He embarked on a comprehensive flora of the highlands of southwest Asia, the first fascicle of which was published in 1962. The project was still underway when he retired in 1971. He also collected in Western Australia in 1982, Indonesia in 1985, Chile in 1987 and Sri Lanka in 1990. His wife accompanied him on all his travels after 1952 and assisted him with his work. He was a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, a member of the Halle Academy of Natural History Research, and of the scientific academies of Sweden and Slovenia. He was awarded the Hammer Purgstall Gold Medal, the Linnean Silver Medal, the Willdenow Medal, the OPTIMA Gold Medal and an honorary doctorate from the University of Lund. He was also awarded the Homajum Order Third Class by the Shah of Iran. He died at the age of 92.

carolinia'na/carolinia'num/carolinia'nus/carolinien'sis: of or from the Carolinas.

caro'ta: Latin name for carrot, derived from the Latin carot for "carrot."

carotif'era: normally I would think this name just from its parts would mean something like "bearing carrots or having carrot-like structures," but that doesn't seem to make sense. However, Orange County botanist Bob Allen referred me to Bob Hoover's book, The Vascular Plants of San Luis Obispo County, CA, in which S. carotifera (now considered a ssp. of exigua) is described as having a fleshy root, stouter than the base of the stem. Bob Allen says "I'm sure it resembles a carrot but he doesn't come out and say that, except for in the name."

Carpenter'ia: named for Professor William Marbury Carpenter (1811-1848), a Louisiana physician and botanist. He attended West Point but resigned due to poor health, then studied medicine at and graduated from the University of Louisiana Medical College, setting up a medical practice at Jackson, Louisiana. He became a professor and then dean at the University of Louisiana. He had long been interested in natural history and scientific matters and had published studies of a submerged forest he discovered and the practice of dirt eating among Negro slaves. He joined the faculty of the Medical College of Louisiana as professor of botany and geology and then from 1845 to 1846 was dean of Tulane University School of Medicine, followed by a three year stint as editor of the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal. He made botanical collections which were published posthumously and was honored by several plant names. The genus Carpenteria was published by John Torrey in 1851.

carpesio'ides: like Carpesium, referring to the similarity between the flower heads of Venegasia and the buds of Carpesium, a plant in the Everlasting tribe of the Asteraceae.

carphoclin'ia: most sources say this epithet derives from the Greek words karphos for "a small dry object, splinter, twig" and kline, "bed," which is of uncertain meaning. Another possibility is from Jaeger's Source-book which says that the Greek root klino means "to turn aside or bend," which seems a reasonable alternative, although still of uncertain meaning.

Carpobro'tus: derived from two Greek words, karpos, "fruit," and brotus, "edible," referring to the fruits which are edible. The genus Carpobrotus was published by Nicholas Edward Brown in 1925.

-carpum/-carpus: from the Greek karpos, "fruit."

Carrich'tera: named for Bartholomaeus Carrichter (c. 1510-1567), a Swiss physician and astrologer. Premodern Europeans were very concerned about protecting doors and thresholds against harmful supernatural influences. The nailing of horseshoes to doorways to keep witches away was a common practice in London as late as the 1790s. Bartholomaus Carrichter was by some accounts a respected scholar and private physician first to Holy Roman Emperors Ferdinand I in 1556 and then to Maximilian II in 1564, but other accounts of him ae dismissive. At least one contemporary, a man named John Crato, described him as an "uneducated charlatan" whose ignorance caused the death of Ferdinand I in 1564. One source even said that he has been incorrectly identified as physician to these two monarchs. In his treatise Zur Heylung der zauberischen Schäden (On the Healing of Magical Illnesses), Carrichter devoted an entire chapter to dangerous objects and their respective remedies. He was also the author of the Kreütterbuch published in 1576. He was born in Reckingen and died in Vienna. The genus Carrichtera was published by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1821.

carsonen'sis: named for the Carson Valley in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Carson'ia: an old genus that was morphed by Edward Greene into Cleome sparsiflora in 1900 but has now been resurrected. The type locality for this taxon was the Carson Valley of Nevada. The genus Carsonia was published by Edward L. Greene in 1900.

car'terae: named for Ella Carter (1886-1980), born in Salt Lake City, with no further information.

carthamo'ides: resembling genus Carthamus.

Cartha'mus: from the Arabic quartom, qurtum or qurtom meaning "to paint," alluding to the colors of the flowers or the extracted dye from sp. tinctorius. The genus Carthamus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Cartier'a: named for Jacques Cartier (1491-1557) (David Hollombe has a double questionmark next to this name indicating some uncertainty on his part about this derivation.). Cartier was a French explorer of Breton origin who claimed what is now Canada for France. He was the first explorer of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1534, and discoverer of the St. Lawrence River in 1535. He also is credited for bringing cabbage to the New World on his third voyage in 1541. The genus Cartiera was published by Edward L. Greene in 1906.

caruifo'lia/caruifo'lium: "caraway-leaved," after genus Carum.

Car'ya: derived from Greek karya, a walnut tree, the fruit of which was known as karyon, a word also applied to other nuts. According to legend, Cara, daughter of the King of Laconia, was changed by Bacchus into a walnut tree, something that seemed to happen a lot in the ancient world. The genus Carya is in the walnut family, Juglandaceae. Trees composing the genus Carya are known as hickories and include species of pecans. Carya was widespread during the Tertiary; fossils have been reported from the states of Colorado and Washington, and from China, Japan, Europe, and western Siberia. The commercial use of Carya is substantial. The cultivated pecan, C. illinoinensis, is the most important nut tree native to North America, and the wood of hickories is unequaled for its use in tool handles, furniture and flooring because of its combined strength and shock resistance. Hickory nuts are also an important, high-quality food source for wildlife because they are high in proteins and fats. The name hickory is said to be a shortening of pockerchicory/pokickery/pohickery, from Algonquian or Powhatan pawcohiccora. The genus Carya was published by Thomas Nuttall in 1818.

caryophyllo'ides: the suffix -oides indicates likeness or resemblance, so this means "resembling Caryophyllus," a name which derives from the Greek karyophyllon, in turn from karya or kaura, "walnut," and phyllon, "a leaf," referring to the aromatic odor of walnut leaves, which led to this name being applied both to the carnation, Dianthus caryophyllus, and to the clove, Caryophyllus aromaticus. Incidentally, there was a goddess associated with Artemis named Karya or Karia who was sometimes referred to as the "walnut goddess," but she disappeared from mythology soon after the Greeks invaded what is now Greece. There is also a village in Greece named Karya famous for its walnut groves. This name has come down to us as the genus of the walnut tree, Carya, and is used as part of at least 14 other generic names around the world, and is of course the root of the family name, Caryophyllaceae. Thanks to Scott Earle of Larkspur Books for his input with regard to this name.

cascaden'sis/Casca'dia: of the Cascades. The genus Cascadia was published by Arthur Monrad Johnson in 1927.

casea'na/cas'ei: named for Eliphalet Lewis Case (1843-1925), an amateur botanist and friend of John Gill Lemmon whom he assisted on some of his early collecting trips, and who named this species for him. He was a schoolteacher and civil war veteran. He came to Sierra County from Lucerne, Ohio, in the 1860s and taught school in Sierraville where a new school was built in 1875. In 1886 he was nominated by the Republicans for superintendent of schools and at the same time his wife Lottie was nominated for the same position by the Democrats. Later he lived in Downieville where in 1900 at the age of 56 his wife passed away.  Soon thereafter he became the owner of the Ruby Mine which he kept for many years. In 1902 he was elected treasurer of Sierra County and held that office until his death in 1925. In that year he killed himself at the site of his wife’s grave, and it was later discovered that he had fallen deeply into debt and had stolen a considerable amount in county funds. The newspapers at the time attributed his suicide to “worry over shortage of accounts, grief over the death of his wife, and illness.”

Casse'beera: named for Johann Heinrich Cassebeer (1785-1850), a well-known botanist, geologist, pharmacist, agriculture and viticulture specialist, and politician. He was born in Gelnhausen and after his apprenticeship in his father’s pharmacy, he worked as a pharmacy assistant in Mainz, Salzwedel, Gandersheim and Berlin, where he devoted himself especially to chemistry and botany. He became a city councilor in 1814 and was several times honorary mayor of Gelnhausen. He was also a member of parliament of his district in Kassel for several years. He was particularly interested in the cryptogams of the Vogelsberg , the Wetterau and the Spessart. He wrote a number of scientific articles and received an honorary doctorate in medicine from the University of Marburg. He died in 1850 and was buried in Biebergemünd-Bieber. The genus Cassebeera was published by Georg Friedrich Kaulfuss in 1824.

Cas'sia: from an ancient Greek name Kasia used by Dioscorides. Cassia is a cinnamon-like plant and the name has a long history. Wiktionary says from Latin cassia, “cinnamon,” from the ancient Greek kassía, kasía, or kásia, from Hebrew qəṣīʿā, from Aramaic qəṣīʿătā, from‎ qṣaʿ, “to cut off.” The genus Cassia was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Cassi'ope: in Greek mythology the mother of Andromeda, hence the use of the name for a genus related to the genus Andromeda. The genus Cassiope was published by David Don in 1834.

castan'ea: chestnut-colored, from ancient Greek kastaneia. A website of the Oxford Herbaria says "The Romans named this oak-related tree Castanea from Castanum, a small town in Thessaly, where it grew in abundance." And FNA says "Classical Latin, from Greek kastanaion karuon, nut from Castania, probably referring either to Kastanaia in Pontus or Castana in Thessaly."

Caste'la: named for René Richard Louis Castel (1758-1832), a French botanist, poet and editor. He was born in Vire, in the Normandy region, and died in Rheims. He was educated at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand and was later a professor there. He was a member of the French National Assembly from 1791 to 1792. He was the author of Histoire naturelle de Buffon (1802) and Les Plantes, Poème (1799). The genus Castela was published by Pierre Jean François Turpin in 1806.

Castille'ja: named for Professor Domingo Castillejo Muñoz (1744?-1793), a Spanish botanist, surgeon and instructor of botany at Cadiz, Spain. There is little information about him available online and his birth date, although uncertain, is often given as 1744, but he apparently served as a professor of materia medica and botany at the Royal Naval College of Surgery in Cádiz. He was devoted at that time to a study of the flora of the southern Iberian Peninsula. He worked for the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid in receiving many new plants from the New World and distributed them to nurseries throughout Spain and the Canary Islands. The genus Castilleja was first described by his contemporary Spanish botanist José Celestino Mutis, but was first validly published by Carl Linnaeus the Younger in 1782.

castlegaren'sis: after Castlegar, British Columbia. The Bulletin of the Native Plant Society of Oregon reports that this name was given because this taxon (Crataegus castlegarensis) was particularly common on the grounds of Selkirk College in Castlegar.

castor'eum: from the Greek kastor, "the beaver," this name refers to the odorous secretion of the beaver, of unknown application, perhaps of a similar smell.

castren'se: from castrensis, which my Latin dictionary defines as "of the camp, military." The type locality for this taxon was called Chinese Camp.

catalin'ae/catalinen'se: from Catalina Island, referring to the first collected specimen.

catar'ia: pertaining to cats, from the Latin catus, "cat."

catena'ta: chained, fettered, from Latin catena, “chain,” the common name of this taxon in the Jepson Manual is chain speedwell.

cates'biana: named for artist-naturalist Mark Catesby (1683-1749). He was born in Essex to a father who was a local politician and a gentleman farmer. His family’s acquaintance with the well-known naturalist John Ray led Catesby to natural history. In 1712 he accompanied his sister to Williamsburg, Virginia, then in 1714 he visited the West Indies, returning first to Virginia, and then to England in 1719 with a collection of botanical specimens and seeds from Virginia and Jamaica. His distribution of these gained him a reputation and in 1722 William Sherard, another friend of John Ray, put forward the idea that he should be sent to the Carolinas and Georgia to collect plants on behalf of the Royal Society. Accepting this mission, he was responsible for introducing many plants to cultivation in Europe, and based on the four years of this trip and twenty years of preparation he published his monumental Natural History of Carolina, Florida & the Bahama Islands. He saw and drew illustrations of living birds, some of which have since become extinct, such as the Carolina parakeet, the ivory-billed woodpecker and the passenger pigeon. He was the first to observe among other things that birds migrate. After living as a couple for almost two decades and having six children, he married Elizabeth Rowland and two years later collapsed and died. His Hortus britanno-americanus was published posthumously in 1763, and a second edition, entitled Hortus Europae americanus was issued in 1767. The original paintings for Natural History, which were purchased in three leather-bound volumes from a bookseller by King George III in 1768, are now in the Royal Collection in Windsor Castle.

cathar'ticus: from the Greek katharos, "pure," or kathartes, "a purifier, a cleanser," thus purgative, cathartic.

cathcartia'na: named for Ellen Weir Cathcart (1836-1916). She was born in the District of Columbia and died there, being buried in Indianapolis.

Catherin'ea: named for Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst Catherine the Great (1729-1796), a German-

born Empress of Russia who led her country into full participation in the political and cultural life of Europe, carrying on the work begun by Peter the Great. With her ministers she reorganized the administration and law of the Russian Empire and extended Russian territory, adding Crimea and much of Poland.The genus Catharinea was published by Daniel Matthias Heinrich Mohr in 1803. In 1744 Catherine arrived in Russia, assumed the title of Grand Duchess Catherine Alekseyevna, and married her young cousin the following year. The marriage was a complete failure; the

following 18 years were filled with disappointment and humiliation for her. In 1793, her husband died childless, and his territories were divided among his relatives. The area of Jever, which allowed for female succession, was inherited by his sister in law Catherine the Great. Friederike was appointed regent-governor in Jever on Catherine's behalf in April 1793. She is described as an active regent who introduced many reforms. She was forced to resign when Jever was taken by France under Napoleon in October 1806. She spent her remaining life with her sister Christine Elisabeth Albertine, Princess of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (1746 - 1823) at Coswig Castle.

Cauca'lis: ancient classical name used by Hippocrates and Theophrastus, possibly a reference to the region of the Caucasus. The genus Caucalis was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

cauda'ta/cauda'tum/cauda'tus: with a tail, from Latin cauda, "a tail," usually referring to the shape of the inflorescence.

Caulan'thus: from the Greek kaulos, "stem," and anthos, "flower," alluding to cauliflower, since some ssp. can be used like it. The genus Caulanthus was published by Sereno Watson in 1871.

caules'cens: with a stem.

Caulin'ia: named for Filippo Cavolini (1756-1810), an Italian marine biologist who left a legal career to study natural history. He was born in the coastal community of  Vico Equense south of Naples. His father was a lawyer and he began a legal career but left it for natural history. He became a professor of zoology at the University of Naples and director of the Zoological Museum. His research led to important results in marine biology and botany. He was a member of the Academy of Sciences of Turin. He died after being assaulted by a soldier while researching by boat in the Gulf of Naples. He fell into the sea and died a few days later from pneumonia. The genus Caulinia was published by Carl Ludwig von Willdenow in 1801.

-caulis: stemmed.

caul'on: a stem.

Caulostram'ina: from the Greek kaulos, "stalk or stem," and stramen, "straw," thus possibly meaning "having a straw-colored stem." The genus Caulostramina was published by Reed Clark Rollins in 1973.

cauria'na: the closest I can come to this is the Latin Caurus, the northwest wind, from which comes the word caurinus, "of the northwest wind or northwestern." The suffix -ana is often given to a proper name to convert it into an adjectival commemorative epithet to be attached to a generic name that is feminine in gender, but I have been unable to determine whether Caurus was a feminine name. This taxon (Lonicera cauriana) inhabits the Sierras and north to Oregon and Alaska so that would fit.

caurin'a: from the Latin caurinus, "of the northwest wind, northwestern."

cav'ernae: from Latin caverna, "a cave or hollow." The taxon Oenothera cavernae is sometimes called the cave-dwelling evening primrose and is the only taxon currently with this specific epithet.

ceano'thi: relating to Ceanothus, this being one of the species that Cuscuta ceanothi parasitizes. This is also the only taxon listed in IPNI with this specific epithet.

Ceano'thus: from the Greek keanothus, a name meaing thistle or spiny plant which was applied by Theophrastus and/or Dioscorides to an Old World plant believed by some to have been Cirsium arvense, and reused by Carl Linnaeus when he published it in 1753.

Cedronel'la: a diminutive of the Latin cedrus or kedros, a cedar. The genus Cedronella was published by Conrad Moench in 1794.

cedror'um: from the Latin cedrus for cedar.

cedrosen'sis: refers to Cedros Island off the coast of Baja California.

-cellus: adjectival suffix used as a diminutive.

Cel'tis: a Greek name for some tree with sweet fruit. Celtis was Pliny's Latin name for Celtis australis, the "lotus" of the ancient world. The genus Celtis was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and he applied this name to the hackberry tree.

Cen'chrus: from Greek kenchros, "millet" or other small grain, and Latin cenchros, a name used by Pliny for an Arabian diamond or an unknown kind of precious stone big as a grain of millet. The genus Cenchrus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Centaur'ea/Centaur'ium: from the Latin and a reference to the centaur Chiron famed for his skill with regard to medicinal herbs and who was supposed to have discovered the medicinal uses of a plant in Greece that came to be called Centaury. Within the family Gentianaceae, the genus Centaurium is in the tribe Chironieae, subtribe Chironiinae. Chiron was supposed to be the teacher of Achilles, Asclepias and others. Chiron was notable throughout Greek mythology for his youth-nurturing nature. His personal skills tend to match those of his foster father Apollo, who taught the young centaur the art of medicine, herbs, music, archery, hunting, gymnastics and prophecy, and made him rise above his beastly nature. He was credited with the discovery of botany and pharmacy, the science of herbs and medicine. Not related directly to the other centaurs, he was the son of the Titan Cronus and the Oceanid Philyra. The genus Centaurea was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and Centaurium by John Hill in 1756.

centran'thera: from the Greek for kentron for "point, spike" and anther, the anthers have awn-like points. "This is unlike any Pedicularis that I know of, and is distinguished by its awned or spurred anthers from all known species except P. grandiflora Fisch., with which it has little else in common." (Asa Gray in John Torrey, Bot. Mex. Boundary, p. 120)

centranthifo'lius: having leaves like Centranthus, a genus of the valerian family.

Centran'thus: from two Greek words kentron, "a spur," and anthos, "flower," and referring to the flower having a spur-like base. The genus Centranthus was published by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1805.

Centroma'dia: from kentron, "a spur or prickle," and the genus Madia, of uncertain application. The genus Centromadia was published by Edward L. Greene in 1894.

Centroste'gia: from the Greek kentron, "a spur," and stegos, " a covering of some type," or stegon, "roof," hence a spurred cover, from the arched saccate spurs at the base of the involucre.

Centun'culus: Umberto Quattrocchi states that this is derived from the Latin centunculus, meaning "a small patch," and was a name used by Pliny for a species of Polygonum like knotweed, from cento, "a garment of several pieces sewed together; a patchwork." The genus Centunculus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Cephalan'thera: from the Greek kephale, "head," and anthera, "anther," thus meaning "head-like anther." The genus Cephalanthera was published by Louis Claude Marie Richard in 1817.

cephalan'thi: David Hollombe contributed the following: "Engelmann wrote that it [Cuscuta cephalanthi] grew "On Cephalanthus; also on Vernonia, Aster, Boehmeria, and other plants (especially Compositae) on the margins of ponds and swamps near St. Louis, where it is the most common species. I have observed it since 1833, but have only met with it in the immediate vicinity of Cephalanthus." Its range in California is the Klamath and Cascade Ranges and the Warner Mountains of northeastern California.

Cephalan'thus: from the Greek kephale, "head," and anthos, "flower," the flowers are borne in compact rounded heads like those of a chrysanthemum or dahlia. The genus Cephalanthus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and is called buttonbush.

cephalophor'a/cephalophor'us: from the Greek kephale, "head," and the suffix -phorus, meaning "to carry or bear."

cerasifor'mis: shaped like a cherry, from Latin cerasus, "cherry tree."

Ceras'tium: from the Greek keras, "a horn," referring to the shape of the seed capsule. The genus Cerastium was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Ceraton'ia: from keratonia, keronia and/or keratea, Greek for "horn, bow," and names for the carob-tree, Ceratonia siliqua. The genus Ceratonia was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

ceratophor'um: having or bearing a horn or horns.

Ceratophyl'lum: from the Greek keras, "a horn," and phyllon, "leaf," alluding to the stiff and narrow leaf divisions, this is a genus often called hornwort. The genus Ceratophyllum was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Cercid'ium: from the Greek kerkidion, "a weaver's shuttle," and descriptive of the woody fruits. The genus Cercidium was published by Louis René Tulasne in 1844.

Cer'cis: from kerkis, the ancient Greek name for the redbud, derived from the Greek word kerkis meaning "a weaver's shuttle," alluding to the shape of the fruit, and applied by Theophrastus to C. siliquastrum which has been called the Judas tree since Judas Iscariot reportedly hanged himself from one. The genus Cercis was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Cercocar'pus: from the Greek kerkos, "tail," and karpos, "fruit," an allusion to the tail-shaped achene. Cercocarpus was published by Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt in 1823.

cerea'le/cerea'lis: pertaining to agriculture, from Ceres, the Goddess of agriculture.

cerefo'lius: waxy-leaved, from Latin cereus, "waxen, of wax."

cer'eum/cer'eus: from Latin cereus for "waxy."

cerif'era/ceriferum: wax-bearing.

cerin'us: waxy.

cer'nua/cer'nuum/cer'nuus: drooping, nodding, from the Latin cernuus, “with the face turned toward the earth.”

cerumino'sa/cerumino'sus: from the New Latin cerumen meaning earwax, from Latin cera, "wax". Cerumen is a yellowish, wax-like secretion from certain glands in the external auditory canal, i.e. earwax. Most of the rubber rabbitbrushes have involucres that appear to be coated in a viscid or waxy substance.

cervia'na: named for Giuseppe (Joseph, Jose) Cervi (1663-1748), an eminent Italian professor of medicine, botanist

and pharmacist, first physician to King Phillip V of Spain, member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris and founder of the Academy of Medicine and Physics at Madrid. He was born in Parma, Italy, and began his university studies at the university there. He was later a professor of anatomy at the University of Parma. He arrived in Spain in 1714 with Princess Isabel de Farnesio who married widowed King Felipe V of Spain and was the mother of King Carlos III. Three years later he was appointed as chamber physician to the royal family, and was protector of the Royal

Society of Seville. He was one of the foreign professionals who brought enlightened attitudes about medicine and anatomy to Spain. He promoted anatomical teaching according to the most advanced criteria and testimony to this are the dedications that anatomists or surgeons made to him in their works, such as Martín Martínez, José Marcelino Ortiz Barroso and Pedro Virgili. Cervi was largely responsible for the important work carried out by the Royal Society of Seville by French anatomists, such as Blas Beaumont and Guillermo Jacobe. He was also honored with the genus name Cervia.

cervi'na/cervi'nus: (1) tawny, like a deer (Lupinus cervinus) or (2) from the Deer Creek Mountains, Josephine County, Oregon, where the type specimen of Erigeron cervinus was collected. NOTE: There is also a species of fungi in California named Pluteus cervinus, which is called the deer mushroom, but which is dull brown in color.

cespito'sa: alternate spelling of caespitosa.

Ces'trum: from the Greek kestron, "point, sting, graving tool," a name used by Dioscorides for some member of the mint family. The genus Cestrum was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Chaenac'tis: from the Greek chaino, "to gape," and aktis, "a ray," thus meaning a gaping ray, and given because in many species the outer florets are enlarged into a wide-open flaring ray-like mouth. The genus Chaenactis was published in 1836 by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle.

Chaetadel'pha: from the Greek chaite or chaeta, "a bristle," and adelphe, "sister," referring to the united or fused awns and bristles of the pappus. The genus Chaetadelpha was published by Sereno Watson in 1873 based on an earlier description by Asa Gray.

Chaetopap'pa: from the Greek chaete or chaite, "bristle, mane, crest or foliage," and pappos, "pappus, fluff or downy appendage," and meaning loose, flowing hair from the pappus of barbed bristles. The genus Chaetopappa was published by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1836.

chalepen'se/chalepen'sis: the -ense or -ensis ending is a Latin adjectival suffix usually used to indicate country of origin, place of growth or habitat, and herbalist John Dunne-Brady says this name usually means 'of Aleppo, Alep, or Haleb, a city in northwestern Syria about eighty miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea.' Other names indicating the same are aleppica, aleppicum, aleppicus, and halepensis. David Hollombe reveals that Linnaeus based the species Lepidium chalepensis on a plant described by Robert Morrison, who had received the seeds from the Rev. Robert Huntington, who was post chaplain to the Levant Company at Aleppo from 1671 to 1681.

chamae-: from the Greek meaning "on the ground, lowly, creeping." Jaeger's Source-book of Biological Names and Terms also make the following note: "in botany, chamae- sometimes signifies "false" although I don't think that meaning applies to any of the names below.

Chamaebat'ia: from the Greek chamae or chamai, "low," and batos, "a bramble." The genus Chamaebatia was published by George Bentham in 1879.

Chamaebatiar'ia: resembling Chamaebatia. The genus Chamaebatiaria was published by Carl Johann Maximowicz in 1879.

Chamaecyp'aris/chamaecyparis'sus: from the Greek chamae or chamai, "dwarf, low-growing, or growing on the ground" and kyparissos, "cypress," meaning "dwarf or ground cypress." Herbalist John Dunne-Brady adds that the genus Chamaecyparis was named "by the French botanist Edouard Spach (1801-1879) and published in 1841 in the eleventh volume of Historie Naturelle des Vegetaux Phanerogames." He states further that this is "an inaccurate and inappropriate description because all species are erect and some grow as high as 120 feet." The genus Chamaecyparis was published by Édouard Spach in 1841.

Chamaecy'tisus: dwarf Cytisus. The genus Chamaecytisus was published by Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link in 1831.

chamae'drys: from the Greek chamae or chamai, "on the ground, dwarf," and drys, "oak," apparently used by Theophrastus for some low-growing plant with oak-like leaves (Stearn's Dictionary).

Chamae'melum: from the Greek chamae or chamai, "low, dwarf," and melon, "an apple," meaning "earth-apple." The genus Chamaemelum was published by Philip Miller in 1754.

chamaenerio'ides: from the root chamae or chamai, "low-growing, dwarf" added to "something that looks like genus Nerium." This epithet could also mean having a resemblance to the genus Chamaenerium.

Chamaesar'acha: from the Greek for "low or dwarf" and Saracha, a South American genus in the family Solanaceae. The genus Chamaesaracha was published by George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1876.

Chamaesy'ce: an ancient Greek name for a kind of prostrate plant. The genus Chamaesyce was published by Samuel Frederick Gray in 1821.

chambers'ii: named for chemist Thomas Seal Chambers (1911-2002). Thanks to David Hollombe for the following information: "AB Swarthmore, AM Harvard 1933; PhD Harvard 1940; fellow Cal Tech 1936-37; consultant for Arthur D. Little, Inc. 1939-1940; lecturer Bryn Mawr, 1940; research chemist Standard Oil Development. Co. 1940-1944; manager chemical research & engineering, A.B. Dick Co., Chicago, 1944-1946; director 1946-1949; Chemical & Management Consultant 1950-. Things he worked on included reaction kinetics, hydrocarbon chemistry, chemicals from petroleum, applied thermodynamics, photochemistry, instrumental methods of analysis, polymers, technology of the graphic arts, papers, paper converting, fibers, agricultural chemistry boards, research administration, patent management, corporate planning and development, and investment analysis of technical enterprises. While at Harvard he went on collecting trips with Reed Rollins.

Chamelau'cium: Umberto Quattrocchi says possibly from camelaucum, "the headgear of the Pope," from Greek kalymma, "a covering." Flora of Western Australia online notes that "an illustration in the original description resembles a bishop's mitre." The website of the Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants also says "possibly from Greek, chamai, dwarf and leucos, white," although this seems etymologically unlikely. The genus Chamelaucium was published by René Louiche Desfontaines in 1819.

Chamer'ion: from the Greek chamae or chamai, "dwarf," and nerion, "oleander," this is apparently a name that has replaced the invalid name Chamaenerion published by Seguier in 1754. The genus Chamerion was published by Josef Ludwig Holub in 1972.

cham'issoi: see chamissonis below.

chamisson'is: named for Ludolf Karl Adelbert von Chamisso (1781-1838), a French-born German poet and botanist

who was a botanist on the ship Rurik which visited California in 1816, and who named the California poppy for his friend Dr. Johann Friedrich Gustav von Eschscholtz. He was born with the name Vicomte de Chamisso and was baptized Louis Charles Adélaïde and later in Prussia took the name Adelbert. When he was nine, Chamisso's family escaped the terrors of the French Revolution by taking refuge in Berlin. He had little formal education but from 1798 to 1810 he was in the Prussian army and appeared on track to make that a career. While in the Army he assiduously

studied natural science for three years. Around 1803 he helped to establish a literary publication in which his first work was published, but that enterprise foundered several years later. After leaving the army he was for no reason that I can determine offered a professorship at the lycée at Napoléonville in the Vendée, but instead went to Switzerland where he studied botany intensively for two years. From 1812 he was back in Berlin continuing his scientific studies and writing the prose narrative Peter Schlemihl, the most famous of his works. In 1815, Chamisso was appointed botanist to the Russian ship Rurik for a voyage around the world, a voyage that took three years. During this trip Chamisso described a number of new species found in what is now the San Francisco Bay area. Several of these, including the California poppy, Eschscholzia californica, were named for his friend Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, who was the Rurik's entomologist. In return, Eschscholtz named a variety of plants, including the genus Camissonia, after Chamisso. He kept a diary, Voyage Around the World with the Romanzov Discovery Expedition (1836) which became a classic of its kind. On his return in 1818 he was made custodian of the botanical gardens in Berlin. One of his most important botanical contributions, done in conjunction with Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal, was the description of many of the most important trees of Mexico in 1830–1831. His last scientific labor was a tract on the Hawaiian language. In his 48th year he turned back to literature and died in Berlin.

Chamomil'la: from the Latin chamaemelon, "chamomille or earth-apple," referring to the smell of the blossoms. The genus Chamomilla was published by Samuel Frederick Gray in 1821.

chand'leri: named for botanist Harley Pierce Chandler (1875-1918), a California school teacher, botanist and principal of Russ High School (now called San Diego High School) in San Diego 1904-1905. He was born in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and studied at Pomona College in southern California before entering the University of California, Berkeley, where he developed an interest in botany and whilst still an undergraduate, became the first to explore the plants of the Marble Mountain region between the Klamath and Salmon Rivers in north western California. On this trip (1901) Chandler discovered several new species and amassed a large collection of specimens which was distributed in sets to numerous North American and European herbaria. Graduating in 1902, he published a revision of the genus Nemophila the same year. He also held principalships in Pasadena and instructed at Redlands High School. He made many botanical collections for the U.C. herbarium and published a monograph on the genus Nemophila. He first collected Satureja chandleri on San Miguel Mountain in 1904. During breaks from his teaching, he continued to conduct botanical field trips in various parts of California, particularly visiting the central and southern Sierra Nevada, San Diego County and the central Coastal Ranges. In 1915-1916 he resided in southern Texas but died in San Jose soon after returning to California. He is listed as a co-collector of Harvey Monroe Hall.

chapar'ro: the Spanish word for the live oak, from which is derived chaparral.

chara'cias: derived from the Greek word charakias, meaning "of or fit for a stake, pale or palisade."

charlestonen'sis: of or from the Charleston Mountains, a range in Clark County, Nevada.

charta'ceum: made of paper, papery, Latin chartaceus from charta, “papyrus, paper,”from ancient Greek khartes, “papyrus, paper.”

chas'ei (X chas'ei): named for Harold Stuart Chase (1890-1970). He was born in Boston, and was married and died in Santa Barbara, California. His main point of hstorical interest appears to be his association with the Hope Ranch in Santa Barbara, and the taxon with his name on it, Quercus X chasei, published by Howard McMinn in 1949, a hybrid of Q. agrifolia var. agrifolia and Q, kelloggii.

chas'ei: named for Virginius Heber Chase (1876-1966). The following is quoted from an article by Robert M. Mohlenbrock entitled "Illinois Solanaceae in the Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium and Biographical Sketches of Some Collectors" published in the Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Vol 69, No. 2, 1982: "[He] was born in Wady Petra, Illinois, the great-grandson of Philander Chase, an Episcopal bishop and founder of Kenyon College in Ohio and Jubilee College near Peoria, Illinois. At the age of 17, Virginius became interested in plants, and he and his aunt Agnes began collecting and keying out plants on their own, a hobby he pursued for the remainder of his life. For a while, Chase served as telegraph operator in Wady Petra, and then built a grain elevator and conducted a successful business in lumber, drain tile, coal, and feed. For twenty-eight years he worked in the P & PU [Peoria & Pekin Union] railroad freight house at Peoria. In later years he also served as custodian of the Peoria Academy of Science. Chase made several thousand collections of plants, many of them from Peoria, Stark, Tazewell, and Woodford Counties, Illinois. A part of his collection was sold to the Missouri Botanical Garden to help defray his collection expenses." Information from the Harvard University Herbaria Index of Botanists is as follows: "Although lacking even a high school education, Virginius Chase trained himself in botany, and became widely known for his contributions to the natural history of plants. The late Dr. Agnes Chase, agrostologist of the Smithsonian Instinuion, was his aunt, and was influential in guiding his early attempts to identify plants. His collections numbering some 15,000 sheets covered areas from the mid-western United States, the South Dakota Badlands and Black Hills, Yellowstone Park, what is now Craters of the Moon National Monument, and into Nuevo Leon, Mexico ... held an honorary MA degree (1949) from Kenyon College, and an honorary DSc (1950) by Bradley University." The taxon with this name in California is Xanthium chasei.

Chasman'the: from the Greek chasme, "gaping," and anthe, "flower," alluding to the shape of the flower. The genus Chasmanthe was published by Nicholas Edward Brown in 1932.

chasmophy'ta: from the Latin chasma, "a deep, steep-sided rift, gap or fissure; a gorge or abyss," and phyte, "plant." The new taxon Dudleya chasmophyta is a rare, cliff-dwelling species found only in Orange County, CA.

Cheilan'thes: from the Greek cheilos, "a lip," and anthos, "flower," in reference to the form of the membranous covering (indusium) of the spore-bearing parts. The genus Cheilanthes was published by Olof Swartz in 1806.

cheiranthifo'lia: having leaves like that of Cheiranthus, an old name for a wallflower now renamed.

cheirantho'ides: resembling genus Cheiranthus.

Cheiran'thus: a genus of wallflowers, which may derive from the Greek cheir, "a hand," and anthos, "flower," thus "hand-flower," and perhaps a reference to the custom of carrying these fragrant flowers in the hand as a bouquet. Cheiranthus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

cheir'i: one source gives cheiri as "red-flowered," another suggests the Greek cheir, "a hand" (see entry above). A website of the Missouri Botanical Garden says "from the Greek word cheir meaning "hand" in reference to an old custom dating back to the Middle Ages where wall flowers were carried in small bouquets by hand to festivals or other events."

Chen'ia: after Chinese botanist and bryologist Chen Pan Chieh (1907-1970) (name often given as Pan Chieh Chen), the founder of modern Chinese bryology. He was the author of Musci Sinici Exsiccati Series (1943) and co-author of Genera muscorum sinicorum (1963). The genus Chenia was published by Richard Henry Zander in 1989.

chenopodiifo'lia: with leaves like Chenopodium.

chenopodio'ides: like Chenopodium.

Chenopodium: from the Greek chen, "goose," and pous, "foot" or podion, "a little foot," referring to the shape of the leaves in some species. The genus Chenopodium was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Cherler'ia: named for Swiss botanist and physicist Johann Heinrich Cherler (1570-1610). He was born in Basel the son of an evangelical pastor and poet. He married the daughter of botanist Johann Bauhin, with whom he developed the book Historiæ plantarum generalis novas et absolutæ Prodomus, a summary of the botanical knowledge of his time. He was also a doctor and worked, among other things as a professor of philosophy at the Nîmes Academy. The genus Cherleria was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

child'ii: named for Henry Stephen Child (1844-1885).  About Child, David Hollombe offers the following: "Henry Stephen Child came from Woodstock, CT. He was the youngest of 7 children. His uncle, Amasa Carpenter, and several of his older brothers were involved in manufacturing and selling shoes in Boston. About 1863, his brothers opened a branch in Davenport, Iowa. The uncle, Amasa Carpenter, married a Susan Richmond and, less than a year after Susan's death, married Susan's niece, Mary. Mary's sister was Emily (Richmond Preston) Parry. At some point, Henry came out to Davenport and worked as a clerk in his brothers' store. The store was last listed in Davenport directories in 1876. On May 29, 1876, C.C. Parry, Edward Palmer, John Gill Lemmon, William Greenwood Wright, two local newspaper men, a local resort operator and several others rode on horseback into the San Bernardino Mts. The group also included 'Mr. H. S. Child of Davenport.' After 1876, Child lived in Boston. His occupation was listed in directories as a dealer in shading pens. He was married in 1883 to a 3rd or 4th cousin. He returned to California for his health in 1885 and died days or weeks later of tuberculosis in Pasadena." He was only 41.

childs'ii: named for John Lewis Childs (1856-1921), a horticultural businessman, ornithologist and politician. He was

born in Franklin County, Maine, and grew up in Buckfield, Maine. I have no information about his education but his horticultural career began in 1874, when he was employed by C. L. Allen of Queens, New York, who had a flower farm and maintained a seed and plant catalog. Soon thereafter he began buying land and building his own seed and bulb business. He more or less founded the community of Floral Park, an area that had previously been known as Plainfield or Hinsdale, and had been known after the Civil War as the location of a great many flower farms.

He changed the names of streets to flower names. The Floral Park Post Office expanded and the Long Island Railroad changed the name of the East Hinsdale Station to Floral Park. Childs’ business created an impetus for increased development. Wikipedia adds: “Childs was responsible for building more than 20 buildings in Floral Park, including hotels, lumber mills and his own printing press. He also provided a public park for the community, built the first school in town, and served as the first village president, which later became the office of mayor.” He was also a member of the New York state senate 1894-1895 and was responsible for a bill establishing a state normal school (teaching college) in Jamaica, New York. He was an elected member of the American Ornithological Union, maintained one of the largest private ornithology libraries in the United States, and had the largest privately held collection of over a thousand mounted birds. He died while riding on a New York Central train from Albany to New York City.

chilen'se/chilen'sis: from or referring to Chile.

chiloen'sis: of the island of Chiloe off the coast of Chile, where the species was first described from, before any plants (of any kind) from western North America were ever seen by European botanists. The following is quoted from a website called Strawberries, A Very Merry Berry that appears to have disappeared from the internet: "It happened that a French spy, named Captain Amede Frezier, was observing Spanish strongholds on the west coast of South America when he discovered the giant-fruited Chilean wild strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis, that South American Indians had been cultivating as long as their history could be remembered. Captain Frezier gathered a few of these plants and brought them back to France. He was not believed when he said the fruit of these plants were the size of large walnuts and he also could not prove it because, unfortunately, all of the plants he had brought with him were female. In order to get them to produce fruit, they were deliberately crossed with the American Wild Strawberry and the end result was the large strawberry, Fragaria ananassa, also called the Pineapple Strawberry. Today, the French word for strawberry is 'fraise' in honor of the Captain."

Chilop'sis: from the Greek cheilos, "a lip," and -opsis, "resemblance," and thus referring to the distinctly lip-like shape of the calyx. The genus Chilopsis was published by David Don in 1823.

Chima'phila: from the Greek cheima, "winter weather," and phelein, "to love," from its evergreen habit and referring to one of the common names, wintergreen aka pipsissiwa or prince's pine. The genus Chimaphila was published by Frederick Traugott Pursh in 1814.

chinen'sis: of or referring to China.

Chloracan'tha: from the Greek chloros, "green," and akantha, "thorn, prickle." The genus Chloracantha was published by Guy L. Nesom, Young Bae Suh, David Randal Morgan, Scott D. Sundberg, and Beryl Britnall Simpson in 1991.

chloran'tha: from the Greek chloros, "green," and anthos, "flower."

Chlor'is: named for the Greek goddess of flowers, Chloris (Flora in Roman mythology), daughter of Amphion. A related Latin word is chloris, "verdant," from Greek chloros, "green." The genus Chloris was published by Olof Swartz in 1788.

chloroceph'alus: from chloros, "green," and kephale, "head."

Chloro'galum: derived from the Greek chloros, "green," and gala, "milk or juice," alluding to the lather-producing juice of the bulbs.

chloropet'alum: green-petalled.

Chloropy'ron: presumably from the roots chloros, meaning "green" or "greenish-yellow," and the roots pyr- or pyrros, "fire, flame-colored, reddish," according to FNA alluding to yellowish green plants. The genus Chloropyron was published by Hans Hermann Behr in 1805.

chlorotham'nus: from chloros, "green," and thamnos, "shrub."

chlorot'ica: pale yellowish-green.

Chondril'la: a Greek name for endive or chicory, and a name used by Dioscorides for a plant that exudes milky juice or gum. Jaeger for the root chondros gives "a grain, something granular," and he specifically lists Chondrilla as an example. The genus Chondrilla was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

chorisia'nus: named for Ludwig (or Ludovic) Choris (1795-1828), a Ukrainian artist who while still a teenager, was

a botanical artist on a Russian scientific expedition to the Caucasus Mountains. This advanced his reputation considerably and he was selected to join the a scientific voyage headed by Captain Otto von Kotzebue aboard the brig Rurik. The primary goal of the Rurik's voyage was to survey the Alaskan coast for a northeast passage through the Bering Strait, so the Russians could supply their trading posts between California and Alaska without having to sail all the way around Cape Horn. The Rurik carried only twenty-seven people, including the captain, scientists Adelbert von Cham-

isso (see chamissonis), Morten Wormskjold, and Johann Friedrich Eschscholtz (see Eschscholzia), and artist Choris. They left Russia in 1815, sailed around Cape Horn and wintered at Kamchatka. The following year they explored the Bering Strait and Unalaska, then headed for California in the fall, anchoring in San Francisco Bay during October. Their next destination was Hawaii and the Sandwich Islands, where they spent several months surveying. Later that year, they did reach the Arctic again, but soon turned for home, stopping at Guam, the Philippines, South Africa, and London before arriving at St. Petersburg having circumnavigated the globe. Choris went on to pursue a successful art career in subsequent years. In 1827 he again headed for America, this time to draw Indians in Mexico, but while riding from Veracruz on the Gulf Coast toward Mexico City, he was killed when robbers attacked his party on March 22, 1828. He was the author of A Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea and Bering’s Strait published in London in 1821 and Vues et Paysages des Régions Equinoxiales Recueillis dans un Voyage Autour du Monde published in Paris in 1826. Von Kotzebue had already made one voyage of circumnavigation between 1803 and 1806 as a cadet on the Nadezhda captained by Adam Ivan Krusenstern. This was the first Russian circumnavigation, and he subsequently made a second voyage around the globe in 1823-1826, eventually discovering 400 islands in the South Seas, leaving his name on Kotzebue Sound in Alaska, and authoring A Voyage of Discovery (3 vol., 1821) and A New Voyage round the World (2 vol., 1830, reprinted 1967). J.F. Eschscholtz accompanied him on his second voyage.

Choris'iva: from the Greek choris, "separate," and the genus Iva. FNA says Greek choris, "separate," and Iva, a related genus allusion recondite, perhaps “separate from Iva” or to “scattered” arrangement of heads. The genus Chorisiva was published by Per Axel Rydberg in 1922.

Chorispo'ra: from the Greek choris, "separate, apart," and spora, "seed," referring to the septate (separated by a septum) fruits. The genus Chorispora was published by Robert Brown in 1821.

Chorizan'the: from the Greek chorizo, "to divide," and anthos, "flower," thus meaning "divided flowers," but actually referring to the divided calyx. The genus Chorizanthe was published by George Bentham in 1836.

Christel'la: named for Swiss pteridologist  Konrad Hermann Heinrich Christ (1833-1933). He was a barrister and a

self-trained botanist. Born in Basel, he was particularly interested in the flora of Switzerland. He began to collect plants as a teenager and in 1853 while he was training for the law at the University of Berlin, he accompanied Alexander Braun, professor of botany, on collecting trips. He subsequently trained at the University of Basel and published a book on the plant geography of the region. He finished his studies in 1856 and moved to Lausanne to study French and local laws, also studying botany and local flora. He passed his exams the following year, was named a notary,

and began to work as a recorder in a court of justice two years later. His life followed dual tracks, one as a barrister and the other as a botanist. He was interested in plant taxonomy, the genus Carex, and ferns, and in 1873 published Roses of Switzerland. JSTOR says: “Christ published 144 related papers, including three extensive books. Perhaps his most important contribution, however, predates this and was his Das Pflanzen-leben der Schweiz (1879). This general account of plant life in Switzerland contained many distribution maps and had a strongly phytogeographic base. Although he saw it as a tentative attempt, it was a great success and several editions were brought out including a version in French.” In 1908 he formed the Swiss League for the Protection of the Natives of the Congo State. His wife’s death caused him to abandon botany altogether, but his election to the Linnean Society rekindled it. He made several important contributions to the history of botany and died after breaking a leg just 19 days short of his 100th birthday. The genus Christella was published by Augustin Abel Léveillé in 1815.

christin'ae: named for Christine Albright Heller Bickett (Mrs. Albert T. Bickett) (1900-2000). She was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and died at the age of 100 in Sacramento County, California, fifty years after the death of her husband. She was the eldest daughter of Amos Arthur Heller.

chromo'sa: from the Greek chroma, "color."

chrymac'tis: from the Greek krymos, "icy," and akta, "shore," thus meaning "of the icy shore," described from the shores of Yakutat Bay and Glacier Bay, Alaska.

chrysan'tha/chrysan'thus: with golden flowers.

chrysanthemifo'lia: name given because foliage resembles that of the chrysanthemum.

chrysanthemo'ides: like Chrysanthemum.

Chrysan'themum: from the Greek chrysos, "gold," and anthos, "flower." The genus Chrysanthemum was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

chrysoco'ma: with yellow tufts or hairs.

chryso'graphes: with yellow or golden veins or markings.

Chrysolep'is: Greek for "golden-scaled," from the lower leaf surface. The genus Chrysolepis was published by Karl Jesper Hakon Hjelmquist in 1948.

chrysopet'ala: with yellow or golden petals.

chrysophyl'la: golden-leaved.

chrysop'sidis: small.

Chrysop'sis: from chrysos, "golden," and opsis, bearing a resemblance or appearance, from the golden color of the heads. The genus Chrysopsis was published by Stephen Elliott in 1824.

Chrysosplen'ium: from the Greek chrysos, "gold," and splynos, "the spleen" or splenion, "a pad or compress of linen," in reference to the sessile leaves. The genus Chrysosplenium was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

chrysosto'ma: golden-mouthed, from chrysos, "golden," and stoma, "mouth."

Chrysotham'nus: from the Greek chrysos, "gold," and thamnus, "bush," thus literally "golden bush," and it is a yellow-flowered bush although its common name is rabbitbrush. The genus Chrysothamnus was published by Thomas Nuttall in 1840.

chuckwallen'sis: name derives from the Chuckwalla Mts, a mountain range in the transition zone between the Colorado/ Sonoran Desert and the Mojave Desert in Riverside Co.

Chylis'mia: from Greek chylos, "juice." FNA says Greek chylos, "juice or succulence," and -isma, "condition," alluding to fleshy leaves. The genus Chylismia was published by Rudolf Raimann in 1893.

Chylismiel'la: diminutive of generic name Chylismia. The genus Chylismiella was published by Warren Lambert Wagner and Peter C. Hoch in 2007.