Names Of Plants: Part Eight
Theo Smid
Hayward, California
Rhododendron Species T
R. tagginum
Hutch, (of Harry F. Tagg, c.1873-1933, keeper of museum, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh; contributor to
Species of Rhododendron
, 1930) Ch. "white trumpet r."
R. taiwanalpnum
Ohwi (of alpine [northern] Taiwan) Azalea.
R. talinse
Franch. (of the Tali Range, Yunnan) Ch. "Dali r."
R. tamurae
(no stress) Masamune (of Kageyoshi Tamura, a horticulturist of Tokyo) Dwarf Indica Azalea.
Marubasatsuki
.
R. tanastylum
Balf.f. & Ward (G.
tanaos
stretched + style)
var.
pennivnium
(Balf. f. & Forr.) Chamb. (L. feathered vein)
R. tashiroi
(no stress) Maxim, (of Tashiro, a Japanese botanist)
Sakura Tsutsuji
; intr. by USDA in 1955.
R. tatsiennse
Franch. (of Tatsienlu, now Kangding, Sichuan) Ch. "stiff leaved r."
var.
nudtum
R.C. Fang (L. denuded)
R. taxiflium
Merr. (Taxus/Yew-leaf)
R. taxodes
J.J. Sm. (like Taxus)
R. telmateum
Balf.f. & W.W. Sm. (G.
telma
standing water, a place of)
R. temnium
Balf.f. & Forr. (G.
temenos
a sacred precinct around a temple, i.e. near Doker La, Tsarong, e. Tibet)
var.
dealbtum
(Cowan) Chamb. (L. whitening)
var.
glvum
(Cowan) Chamb. (L. pale yellow)
Chrysnthum Group (G. golden-yellow + flower) Ch. "oxhidetea."
R. tnue
Ching (L. slender) Ch. Slender Azalea.
R. tephropplum
Balf.f. & Farr. (G.
tephra
ashes +
peplos
covering, i.e. blackish scales below) Ch. "gray clad r."
R. thaumasinthum
Sleum. (G.
thauma
a wonder + flower)
R. thayernum
Rehd. & Wils. (of a family descended from Thomas Thayer, who settled in Braintree, Mass., before 1647, especially Nathaniel Thayer, 1808-1883, who financed Agassiz's expedition to Brazil in 1865 and established the herbarium at Harvard) Ch. "reversed margin r."
R. thomsnii
Hook.f. (of Thomas Thomson, 18171878, M.D. Glasgow; surgeon, Bengal Army; with J.D. Hooker in the Himalayan expedition of 1849; supt. Botanic Garden, Calcutta, 1854-61; collected in Kashmir; Western Himalaya and Tibet; a Narrative of a Journey, 1847, 1852)
ssp.
lopsanginum
(song) (Cowan) Chamb. (of the Dalai Lama, Nga Wang Lopsang Tup Den Gyatso) provisional name.
R. thymiflium
Maxim, (leaf of thyme) Ch. "thousand-li-fragrance r."
R. tosanse
Makino (of Tosa, Japan) Tosa Azalea,
Fuji Tsutsuji
.
R. txopei
J.J. Sm. (of the Dutch geneticist H.T. Toxopeus, who collected in the Moluccas)
R. traillinum
Forr. & W.W. Sm. (of George W. Traill, 1836-1897, botanist and father in law of George Forrest; studied algae in Scotland;
Trailliella
Batters) Ch. "Sichuan-Yunnan r."
var.
dictotum
(Tagg) Chamb. (G.
diktuon
a network)
R. tricnthum
Rehd. (C.
trichos
of hair + flower) intr. 1904.
R. trichcladum
Franch. (G. hairy
klados
shoot) Ch. "coarse-haired r."
Lophogynum Croup (G.
lophos
crest of a helmet + ovary)
R. trichstomum
Franch. (G. hairy
stoma
+ mouth) Ch. "hairy mouthed r."
Ledodes Group (resembling
Ledum
) Ch. "tubular flower r."
Rdinum Group (G. lit. slender)
R. triflrum
Hook.f. (L. three flowered) Ch. "three flowered r."
var.
bauhiniiflrum
(Watt ex Hutch.) Cullen (Bauhinia-flower) Manipur.
ssp.
multiflrum
R.C. Fang (L. many flowered)
Mahgani Group (brown blotch and spots)
R. trilectrum
Cowan (L. of three readers, i.e. resembling two other species?)
R. trimphans
Yersin & Chevalier (L. winning honors)
R. trunccolum
Sleum. (trunk-dweller)
R. tsii
(-ah-) Fang (of Prof. Tsai Hsetao, b. 1911, director of Yunnan Institute of Tropical Botany; vice-dir. of Kunming Institute of Botany; collected in Yunnan)
R. tsarinse
Cowan (of Tsari Chu, s. e. Xizang, i.e. Tibet)
R. tschonoskii
(no stress) Maxim, (of Tschonoski, a Japanese collector) Tschonoski Azalea,
Kume Tsutsuji
; intr. Eng., 1878, U.S., 1892.
R. tsii
Merr. (of Tso Ching Iieh, member of the staff of the Institute of Agriculture, Forestry and Botany, Sun Yatsen University, Guangdong) Ch. "two Guang r." i.e. of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces;
guang
means "long."
R. tba
Sleum. (L. trumpet, a noun in apposition), possibly a hybrid.
R. tuberculferum
J.J. Sm. (L. nodule-bearing)
R. ttcherae
Hemsl. & Wils. (of the wife of W.J. Tutcher of Hong Kong, who gave assistance to the authors)
var.
gymnocrpum
A.L. Chang (G.
gumnos
naked +
karpos
fruit) Ch. "distant fragrance tree."
Rhododendron Species U
R. ltimum
Wernh. (L. the last, i.e. in the area)
R. ungrnii
Trautv. (of Baron F. von Ungern-Sternberg, 1800-1868, prof. at Dorpat, now Tartu, Estonia) intr. 1886.
R. uniflrum
Ward (L. one flower) Ch. "solitary-flower r."
var.
impertor
(Ward) Cullen (L. emperor)
R. uvariiflium
Diels (leaf of
Uvaria
, climbing shrubs of the Philippines) Ch. "Uvaria r."
Rhododendron Species V
R. vacciniodes
Hook. f. (resembling
Vaccinium
) Ch. "Vaccinium r."
R. valentininum
Forr. ex Hutch, (of Pre S.P. Valentin, French Foreign Missions, Tsedjong, Yunnan)
var.
oblongilobtum
R.C. Fang (L. oblong-lobed, i.e. corolla) Ch. "south-Yunnan hairy stalked r."
R. vanderbiltinum
Merr. (of George Vanderbilt, who financed an expedition to Sumatra in the 1930s)
R. vandeursnii
Sleum. (of H.M. Vandeursen, Amer. zoologist, assistant curator of the Archbold Expedition to New Guinea)
R. vanvuurnii
J.J. Sm. (of L. van Vuuren, a soldier in the former Dutch Indian Army, who collected in Celebes, now Sulawesi)
R. variolsum
Beccari (L. much-varied, i.e. in color)
R. vseyi
A. Gray (of George S. Vasey, 1822-1893, who discovered it in No. Car. in 1878) Pinkshell Azalea. Vasey came to the U.S. with his parents from Yorkshire; practiced medicine in Illinois, 1848-66; botanist in charge of U.S. Nat'l Herbarium, 1872-93; botanized in the Rocky Mountains.
Vaseya
Thurb.
Vaseyochloa
Hitchcock.
R. veitchinum
Hook, (of the Veitch family of nurserymen, of whom the following are representative: John, 1752-1839, who founded a nursery in 1808; James, 1792-1863; James, 1815-1869, in whose honor the VMM was instituted; Robert T., 1823-1885; John Gould, 1839-1870, who collected in the Pacific; Peter Christian Massyn, 1850-1929, who collected in Fiji, Australia, N.Z., New Guinea and Borneo, Sir Harry James, 1840-1924, hybridizer of orchids... Anna Mildred Langley, 1889-1949, daughter of P.C. Massyn, managing dir. of the firm.)
Cubittii Group (of George E. S. Cubitt, c. 1875-1966, Asst Inspector General of India, Conservator of Forests, Malay Peninsula)
R. vnator
Tagg (L. hunter, i.e. scarlet color of the jacket)
R. vensum
Nutt. (L. much veined)
R. vernicsum
Franch. (L. varnished, i.e. lvs. glabrous above & beneath) Ch. "glossy leaved r."
R. verstegii
J.J. Sm. (of G.M. Versteeg, who contributed one of first specimens from New Guinea)
R. verticilltum
Low ex Lindl. (L. whorled)
R. vesiculferum
Tagg (L. bearing vesicles, i.e. small bladder-like hairs)
R. vilii
Delavay & Franch. (of Pre Paul Vial, Fr. For. Missions, Yunnan) Ch. "red horse silver flower."
R. vidlii
Rolfe (for a Capt. Vidal, Brit. Royal Navy, fl. 1840s, who discovered
Campanula vidalii
in the Azores)
R. villsulum
J.J. Sm. (L. very downy) Ch. "longhaired r."
R. vincolor
Sleum. (L. wine-colored)
R. vnkii
Sleum. ("after my colleague W. Vink with whom I explored the Arfak Mts., Vogel Peninsula, New Guinea, by helicopter in 1962")
Vireya
, a section of the genus. Karl Ludwig von Blume (Braunschweig 1796 Leiden 1862), director of the botanic garden at Batavia, director of the Rijksherbarium, Leiden, and writer on the flora of Java, described the second known species,
R. album
, in
Cat. Gew. Buitz.
, 1823, and subsequently numerous others. As a group he named them for his friend, Jules Joseph Virey (1776-1847). After serving as a physician in a military hospital and as chief pharmacist in Val de Grace, Virey went to Paris. While defending his doctoral thesis in natural history he attacked the then popular theories of Lamarck, who maintained that new species develop through the efforts of organisms to adapt themselves to new conditions, i.e. the inheritability of acquired characteristics. Although he was supported by several members of the Chamber of Deputies, Virey was denied the chair of Natural History. Among his works were:
Histoire du genre humain
, 8 vols., Paris, 1817;
Trait de pharmacie thoretique et pratique
, Paris, 1833. In Pierre Larousse,
Grand Dictionnaire Universel du XIX Sicle
, Paris, 1868, virye [sic] is defined as alloplecte, entrelac genre de plantes de la famille des genriaces, tribu des piscies. George Don (1798-1856) segregated both
Vireya
and
Hymenanthes
in his
General System of Dichlamydeous Plants
, 1834. [These are plants with a double floral envelope.]
R. virgtum
Hook. f. (L. with little, narrow branches) Ch. "willow branch r."
ssp.
oleiflium
(Franch.) Cullen (L. olive-leaf)
var.
glabriflrum
K.M. Feng (L. smooth flower) Ch. "few haired willow branch r."
R. viscidiflium
Davidian (L. sticky leaf)
R. viscsum
(L.) Torrey (L. gluey) Swamp Azalea, the first American azalea grown in England, by Bishop Henry Compton of London in 1680 from seed sent by Rev. John Banister, 1650-1692, English missionary naturalist who was accidentally shot to death by a game hunter while he himself was hunting plants.
R. vitis-idaa
Sleum. (L. vine of Mt. Ida) This is a wooded eminence near Troy with a view of the Hellespont on which some of the Olympic divinities dwelled during the Trojan War. On it Paris chose Aphrodite as the fairest of the three goddesses and from it Zeus, as a giant eagle, snatched the handsome boy Ganymede and made him cup bearer on Mt. Olympus.
Other Ericaceous Genera T
Tripetalea
Siebold & Zuccarini (G. three +
petalon
leaf) 2 spp. Japan.
T. bracteta
Maxim. (L. bearing bracts, i.e. subtended)
T. paniculta
Sieb. & Zucc. (L. irregularly branched flower cluster) intr. 1892.
Tsusiophllum
Maxim, is considered as a monotypic genus, separate from
Rhododendron
because it has a corolla tubular and stamens 5, included; anthers opening by slits. Rehder bases the name on
Tsusia
, a subgenus of
Rhododendron
, and C. leaf. As an azalea, it is listed as
Rhododendron tsusiophyllum
Sugimoto.
T. tanakae
(no stress) Maxim, (of Tyozaburo Tanaka, Japanese botanist; mts. of Honshu and Taiwan; intr. 1915.
Other Ericaceous Genera V
Vaccnium
L. (ancient name of
V. myrtillus
, Virgil,
Bucolics
2, 18; Ovid,
Trist.
1, 1, 5: Pliny,
N.H.
16, 77; etc.) Blueberry, Cranberry, Huckleberry, Bilberry, etc. c.150 spp. no. hemisphere, most in No. Amer. & e. Asia.
V. angustiilium
Ait. (L. narrow-leaf) Lowbush Bl., Low-Sweet/Late-Sweet Bl., Sweet Hurts; Arctic Amer.-Minn., mts. of N.Y., N.H.; intr. 1772; much collected from wild plants.
V. arctostphylos
L. (like Arctostaphylos) Caucasus; intr. 1800.
V. shei
Reade (of William W. Ashe, 1872-1932) Rabbit-Eye Bl.; Ga. Fla. so. Ala.; minor element, with
V. corymbosum
, of commercial blueberries.
V. atrocccum
(A. Gray) A. Heller (L. black-scarlet) Black Highbush Bl.; s. e. Va., e. S.C., intr. before 1898.
V. casium
Greene (L. bluish-gray) Deerberry, Squaw H.; Penn. W. Va. Fla. Ala.
V. caespitsum
Michx. (L. forming tufts) Dwarf Bilb.; No. Amer.; intr. 1823.
V. cndicans
Michx. (L. becoming white, i.e. undersurface of lvs.) Ga., Ala.
V. corymbsu
L. (G.
korumbos
broad, flat flower cluster) Highbush/Swamp Bl., Whortle berry; chief parent of comm. blueberries; Me. Fla. La.; intr. 1765.
V. crassiflium
L. (L. thick-leaf) Creeping Bl.; s. e. Va. S.C.; intr. 1787.
V. cylindrceum
Smith (L. cylindrical, i.e. tubular flowers) Azores.
V. delavyi
Franch. (of Pre Jean Marie Delavay, Fr. missionary in Yunnan), w. China; cult. 1933.
V. delkisum
Piper (L. delicious) Wash. no. Ore.; intr. 1920.
V. dunalinum
Wight (of Michel F. Dunal, 1789-1856, prof. of bot., Montpellier) Himal.
V. ellittii
Chapman (of Stephen Elliott, 1771-1830, prof. in Charleston, S.C., author of
A sketch of the botany of South Carolina and Georgia
) Elliott's Bl.; Va. Fla. to Ark., La.
V. fusctum
Aiton (L. swarthy, i.e. the leathery lvs.) so. Ga., Fla.
V. glauclbum
Hook. f. ex C.B. Clarke (L. white-glaucous, i.e. undersurface of lvs.) Himal.
V. hirstum
Buckley (L. hairy, i.e. pubescent lvs.) Hairy H.; Tenn., N.C.; intr. 1887.
V. macrocrpon
Aiton (G. large fruit) Cranberry, Large/American C., Nfld. to Minn., so. to N.C.
(From the O.E.D.):cranberry. Also craneberry. A name of comparatively recent appearance in English; entirely unknown to the herbalists of 16-17th c., who knew the plant and fruit (
V. oxycoccus
, ed.) as marshwhorts, fenwhorts, fenberries, marshberries, mossberries. Several varieties of the name appear in continental languages, as G. Kranichbeere, Kranbeere, LG Krnbere. . . Kranebere (all meaning craneberry); cf. also Sw. tranbar, Da. tranchaer, F. trana, trane, crane.
The name appears to have been adopted by the North American colonists from some LG source and brought to America with the American cranberries (
V. macrocarpon
) and imported [to England, ed.] already in 1688. Thence it began to be applied in the 18th c. to the British species
V. Oxycoccus
. In some parts, where the latter is unknown, the name is erroneously given to the Cowberry (
V. Vitis Idaea
).
1672 Josselyn,
New Eng. Rarities
119. "Cranberry, or Bear Berry, is a small trayling plant in salt marshes"...1868 Queen Victoria,
Life in Highlands
139, "Dinner ending with a good tart of cranberries."
The name originated in the resemblance of the petals and anther" beak" to the head of a crane. Some other names: F. canneberge, Sp. arandano, It. mortellina di paiule, Cz. brusinka, Mod. German Moosbeere.
V. membranceum
Douglad (L. thin-skinned) Thin Leaf/Blue H., Mountain Bl.; Ont., Mich. B.C. no. Cal.; much collected in the wild; intr. 1828.
V. myrsintes
Lam (like Myrsine, Cape Myrtle, African Boxwood) N.C., Fla., La.; cult. 1813.
V. myrtillodes
Michx. (resembling
V. myrtillus
) Sour-top/Velvet-Leaf Bl.; Labr. B.C., so. to Va.; much collected from wild plants for market.
V. myrtllus
L. (former generic name) Whortleberry, Whinberry; Fr.
myrtlle
; Ger.
Heidelbeere
; It.
mirtillo
; Eur., no. Asia; cult. 1789.
V. nummalra
Hook. f. & T. Thomson (L. pertaining to a moneychanger, i.e. lvs. shaped like coins) Himal.; intr. 1850.
V. occidentle
A. Gray (L. western) Western Bl.; B.C. c. Cal. e. to Rocky Mt S.; intr. 1918.
V. oldhmii
Miq. (of Richard Oldham, 18371864) Korea, Japan; intr. 1892.
V. ovaliflium
Smith (L. oval-leaf) Mathers; no. Amer.; intr. 1880.
V. ovtum
Pursh L. egg-shaped) Cal./Evergreen/Shot H.; B.C. Cal.; florists' greens called "Huckleberry" or "Leatherleaf"; intr. 1826.
V. oxycccos
L. (old generic name from G.
oxus
sharp, i.e. in taste +
kokkos
berry) Small/European Cranberry; Fr. canneberge; Ger. Moosbeere; It. mortellina di palule; no. Eur. and Asia, No. Amer.; cult. 1789.
V. padiflium
Smith (L. from
padus
ancient Gallic name for
Picea
: Pliny 3,122) Madeira.
V. pllidum
Ait. (L. pale) N.Y., Ga., Ala., Mo., Ark.; cult, c.1878.
V. parviflium
Smith (L. small-leaf) Red H.; Alaska Cal.; intr. 1881.
V. prastans
Lambert (L. distinguished) Kamchatka Bilb.; no. Asia; intr. 1914.
V. scoprium
Leiberg (L. broom-like; yellow-green stems resemble Broom) Grouseberry, Little Leaf H.; Alta. B.C., so. to Colo., Cal.; intr. 1904.
V. sprenglii
(G. Don) Sleum. (of Kurt P.J. Sprengel, 17661833, prof. of med. & bot., Halle; published on flora of Halle,
Umbelliferae
, history of botany and edited the 18th edition of Linnaeus's
Systema Vegetabilium
, 1825-28) Himal., China, s. e. Asia; intr. c.1908.
V. stapfinum
(shtahp-fe-) Sleum. (of Otto Stapf, 1857-1933, Austrian bot. at Kew; keeper 1909-22) Borneo.
V. uliginsum
L. (L. swampy, i.e. habitat) Bog Bilb., Moorberry; Fr. airelledesmarais; Ger. Moorbeere, Rauschbeere; no. Eur. & Asia, No. Amer.; cult. 1789.
V. vcillans
Torrey (L. swaying) Sugar H., Low/Early Sweet Bilb./BI.; w. Nova Scotia Mich. so. to Mo. Ga.; cult, c.1878.
V. virgtum
Ait. (L. twiggy) Ga. Fla., w. to Ark., Tex.; intr. 1770.
V. vitis-idaa
L. (L. grape of Mt. Ida, a celebrated ridge near Troy) Covered with woods and presenting a fine view of the Hellespont, Mt. Ida was a favorite haunt of the gods during the Trojan War. From it Zeus, in the guise of a giant eagle, snatched Ganymede to make him cupbearer on Olympus; there Paris gave the prize of beauty to Aphrodite among the three goddesses. Cowberry, Foxberry, Cranberry; Fr. airelle rouge; Ger. Preisselbeere; It. mortella rossa; no. Eur.; often collected wild and marketed; cult. 1789.
var.
mnus
Loddiges (L. less) Mt. Cranb., Rock C., Lingberry, Lingen, Lingenberry; Mass. Alaska; cult. 1825.
This series began in the Spring 1988 issue of the ARS journal and will continue in the Spring 1990 issue.