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PBIO 250 Lecture Notes

James L. Reveal

Department of Plant Biology, University of Maryland

Formation of Scientific Epithets

Terminations of adjectives or words used as adjectives

  m.		f.		n.		examples

  -us		-a		-um		longus, longa, longum
  -er		-ra		-rum		glaber, glabra, glabrum
  -fer		-fera		-ferum		florifer, florifera, floriferum
  -is		-is		-e		brevis, brevis, breve
  -ex		-ex		-ex		simplex, simplex, simples
  -ens		-ens		-ens		repens, repens, repens
  -or		-or		-or		bicolor, bicolor, bicolor
  -oides	-oides		-oides		bryoides, bryoides, bryoides
  -r		-ris		-re		acer, acris, acre

Commemorative Epithets

Last names

Names proposed in the sense of "Cronquist s daisy"

Names proposed in the sense of the "daisy of Cronquist s" The termination determined by the gender of the generic name

Names proposed in the sense of the "daisy named in honor of the Cronquists"

First names

As one will note, it is best to avoid using a person's given name when proposing scientific names to living organisms as they can be difficult to decline into Latin. Also, in many cultures, what constitutes a first name is not the same as in ours.