Urs Eggli . Leonard E. Newton Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH Urs Eggli . Leonard E. Newton Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names , Springer Dr. Urs Eggli Sukkulenten-Sammlung Zürich Mythenquai 88 8002 Zürich Switzerland e-mail: [email protected] Professor Dr. Leonard E. Newton Department of Botany Kenyatta University P.G. Box 43844 Nairobi 00100 Kenya e-mail: [email protected] ISBN 978-3-642-05597-3 ISBN 978-3-662-07125-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-07125-0 Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for Bibliographie information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie. detailed bibliographie data are available in the Internet at <http:/dnb.ddb.de> This work is subject to copyright. All rights reserved , whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the right s of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitat ion, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way,and storage in data banks . Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its CUTTent version, and per­ mission for use must always be obtained from Springer-Verlag .Violations are liable for prosecution under the German Copyright Law. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2004 Originally published by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New Yorkin 2004. Softcover reprint of the hardcover Ist edition 2004 The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, ete. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design : design & production GmbH , 69121 Heidelberg, Germany Typesetting: Ready for printing by Urs Eggli; GNU groff (version 1.17.2) on Linux 3113150-WI- 5 4 3 2 1 0 - Printed on acid-free paper Contents Preface VII Abbreviations IX Introduction XI References XVII Dictionary Preface Names are important elements to handle the diversity of items in daily life - persons, object s, animal s, plants , etc. Without such names, it would be difficult to attach information to such items and to communicate information about them, and names are usually used without giving them much thought. This is not different for plants. When dealing with plants, however, it soon becomes apparent that the situation is somewhat more complex. Botanists use Latin names to bring order into the vast diversity, while everyday usage resorts to vemacular or "popular" names. As practical as these vernacular names are (it is not suggested that you should ask your greengrocer for a kilo­ gram of Solanum tuberosum or Musa paradisiaca subsp. sapientum ), their most important draw­ back is the fact that they vary widely, not only from one language to another but also from coun­ try to country, even from region to region within a large country. More importantly, vemacular names in any given language are usually only available for the plants growing locally, or for plants of some special importance, such as crops and vegetables, medicinal plants, or important garden plants. For all other plants, the Latin names used by botanists and other scientists have to be employed. Such names often appear complicated or even awkward to the ears of those not accustomed to them. Names are best memorized when their meaning is apparent, but the ever dimini shing gen­ eral knowledge of the classical languages (and here especially Latin) makes the information on the meaning of these scientific names more and more inaccessible. This is the point where the present "Etymological Dictionary" tries to fill a gap. We have tried to give a complete alphabeti­ cal list, together with concise explanations, of all the currently accepted names of succulent plants (including cacti). This task was greatly facilitated by the publication of the recently completed series "Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants" (Eggli & Hartmann, 2001-2003), and explanations of the ety­ mologie s of all names used in those volumes were originally part of the planned layout. For vari­ ous reasons, etymological explanations were finally included only for the genus names, but sev­ eral authors of the "Handbook" series had already supplied etymological explanation s for the names of species in the group s they contributed. It was therefore an easy decision to continue this work, expand it to cover all accepted names of succulents (including cacti), and thus provide a standardised set of etymological explanations for this intriguing and highly interesting group of plants. It is our hope that the present etymological dictionary will help towards a better under­ standing of the scientific names of the plants covered - for hobby collectors, horticulturists and botanists alike. Preface VIII Acknowledgements The compilation of this etymological dictionary relied heavily on the data supplied by several authors to the "Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants" series. Our sincere thanks go to E Al­ bers, S. Arroyo-Leuenberger, C. C. Berg, A. Chautems, B. Descoings, S. Carter, P. Forster, G. Germishuizen, H. 't Hart (t), H.-D. Ihlenfeldt, E. van Jaarsveld, M. Kimnach, U. Meve, R. Moran, R. Nyffeler, G. D. Rowley, G. E Smith, J. Thiede, and W. J. de Wilde. Our work to com­ plete and standardise the etymological data, and especially our search for biographical informa­ tion, was greatly supported by Gordon D. Rowley and Dieter J. Supthut. Others who supplied much valuable information are M. B. Bayer, V. Gapon, M. J. & R. C. Kimberley, A. B. Pullen, L. Springate, and N. P. Taylor. Numerous colleagues have supplied fur­ ther snippets of information, and we are grateful for an their help. Additional help was also pro­ vided by several authors of recently described taxa, as wen as by living persons who were hon­ oured with the name of a plant taxon. Their help is also greatly appreciated. Finally, it is the pleasant duty of one of us (U.E.) to thank the director of the Sukkulenten­ Sammlung Zürich, Dr. Thomas Bolliger, as wen as the administration of Grün Stadt Zürich, for permission to use computing infrastructure for the etymological database that was developed dur­ ing this project. A further word of sincere thanks goes to Springer Verlag, and especially to Dr. Jutta Lindenbom, who favoured the present project and thus enabled this volume to become a companion volume to the "Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants". Nairobi / Zürich, January 2004 Leonard E. Newton & Urs Eggli Abbreviations Arab. Arabian C Central Comp. Comparative Dept. Department Dirn. Diminutive Distr. District E East, eastern Engl. English esp . especially f. fernale fl. (floruit) flourishing, active Gen. Genitive Germ. German Gr. Greek ICBN International Code of Botanical Nomenclature IHSP Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants ItaI. Italian Lat. Latin m. male MLat. Medieval Latin N North, northern n. neuter NE Northeast, northeastern NW Northwest, northwestern PI. Plural Provo Province RBG Royal Botanic Gardens RSA Republic of South Africa S South, southern SE Southeast, southeastern Span. Spanish SuperI. Superlative SW Southwest, southwestern syn. synonym USA United States of America W West, western Introduction Coverage discredit the publications concerned). If the newly published taxa are interpreted as having The taxa for which etymologies are sup­ at least some standing (at the editors ' discre­ plied in this volume are those accepted in the tion), etymologies have been included in this volumes of the Illustrated Handbook of Succu­ volume. Such taxa were always accepted when lent Plants (Eggli 2001-2003, Hartmann 2001 they were published by the authority I authori­ and Albers & al. 2002). In the case of the ties who contributed the relevant Handbook cacti, the list of accepted names was derived treatment. The infraspecific taxa (esp. variet­ from The Cactus Family (Anderson 2001), ies) described as new in recent years are which in turn is primarily based on the second mostly unlikely to be of major taxonomic im­ edition of the CITES Cactaceae Checklist portance, and these are consequently ignored (Hunt 1999). The many synonyms, i.e. names for this work. that have gone out of use, are not included here. Deviation s from the sources just cited are Cactaceae: Deviations from the taxonomy relatively minor and can be described as fol­ presented by Anderson (2001) are again rela­ lows: tively few. The most obvious change is the recognition of the genera Pierrebraunia, Sul­ Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants corebutia and Weingartia (included in the syn­ (IHSP): With the exception of a couple of cor­ onymy of Arrojadoa and, respectively for the rection s of errors and the inclusion of a very latter two, in Rebutia). At species level, few names erroneously not covered in these changes are mostly due to research published volumes, there are no deviations. A few of the subsequently to the compilation of Anderson's etymologies for generic names in the IHSP book, and usually concern names accepted by have been slightly modified. In addition, Anderson, but which are now recognized as names of doubtful or uncertain application synonyms. This is most notably the case for were included with a short discussion and de­ Opuntia. For several of the larger genera, addi­ scription in the main body of the text in the tional infraspecific taxa have been accepted in case of the Aizoaceae, but were listed sepa­ comparison with the taxonomy by Anderson, rately and without explanation in the other again based on recent research. All these four volumes. Consequently, the doubtful changes have been made with the goal of giv­ names in Aizoac eae are included in our list, ing an even coverage of etymologies for all unless the discussion in Hartmann (2001) sug­ relevant taxa, and they reflect on-going re­ gests that they do not belong in the family, search as well as (in some cases) a continua­ whilst those listed in the other volumes are tion of current usage.