TAXONOMIC

HIERARCHY AND
BOTANICAL LATIN

Dr. A. N. Singh
Assistant Professor
Department of Botany
Panjab University, Chandigarh
 Taxonomic Hierarchy
Taxonomic hierarchy is the process of
arranging various organisms into
successive levels of the
biological classification either in a
decreasing or an increasing order from
kingdom to species and vice versa.
Each of this level of the hierarchy is called
the taxonomic category or rank.
A taxonomic group of any rank such as a
family, genus, and species etc. is called as
Taxon or Taxa.
MAJOR CATEGORIES –

Kingdom (Regnum)
Subkingdom (Sub regnum)
Division (Divisio or Phylum)
Subdivision (Subdivisio or
Subphylum)
Class (Classis)
Subclass (Subclassis)
Order (Ordo)
Suborder (Subordo)
Family (Familia)
Subfamily (Subfamilia)
 MINOR CATEGORIES –
  Tribe (Tribus)
Sub tribe (Subtribus)
Genus (Genus)
Subgenus (Subgenus)
Section (Sectio)
Subsection (Subsectio)
Series (Series)
Subseries (Subseries)
Species (Species)
Subspecies (Subspecies)
Variety (Varietas)
Subvariety (Subvarietas)
Forma (Forma)
Subforma (Subforma)
BOTANICAL LATIN
1. What is Botanical Latin?
2. Why Latin as a Language of Botany?
3. Progressive Development Of
Botanical Latin
4. Botanical Latin Today
5. The Latin Alphabet and
Pronunciation
6. Some Latin Terms used in Botany
7. Some Latin abbreviations used in
Botany
 “Those who wish to remain ignorant of the
Latin language, have no business with the
study of Botany” so wrote John Berkenhout in
1789.

E.J.H. Corner (1960) gives its modern echo

“We botanists keep Latin alive. We read it,
write it, type it, speak it when mother tongues
fail, and succeed in putting such remarkable
things as grass flowers and microscopic fungi
into universal understanding through Latin”.
 What is Botanical Latin?

 Botanical Latin is best described as a

modern Latin language of special technical
application, derived from Renaissance Latin
with much plundering of ancient Greek.

 It has evolved mainly since 1700 and

primarily through the work of Carl Linnaeus
(1707-78), to serve as an international
medium for the scientific naming of plants in
all their vast numbers and many fold diversity.
 Latin was then the ordinary generally
understood language of educated men and so
it remained through the eighteenth century.

 It served for international communication and

also for private correspondence between
scholars of the same language, possibly
because few women could then read Latin.

 From being thus customary and traditional,

Latin has now become obligatory for certain
botanical purposes.
 Why Latin as a language of Botany?

 No Botanist, however learned, can have a

reading knowledge of all modern languages
(about 3,000) in which descriptions of new
plants might be published. Moreover, there is
no other language in which so much
fundamental information of systematic
botany is recorded.
 The number of original descriptions and
diagnoses of plants in Latin exceeds 4,00,000
(4 lakh).
 Many standard comprehensive works giving
information not elsewhere readily accessible
or else important as the starting points of
nomenclature, are in Latin.
Progressive Development Of Botanical Latin

Botanical Latin could have never been

continuously employed for the description of
such diversity of plants but for its progressive
development. This has involved the
incorporation of a host of terms unknown to
classical Latin, and the use of many classical
Latin words with new specialized meanings.
It has elaborated its vocabulary by taking loan
words from other languages, notably Greek
and modern compounds. Side by side with
these shifts has come simplification of
grammar.
 Botanical Latin today
 Although Latin has long ceased to be for the
botanist “that universal language which opens to him
all the botanical books published in every part of the
world”, it provides many of the terms used in
morphology, anatomy, cytology, physiology, ecology
and phytogeography.
 Article 36:
On or after 1January, 1935, a name of a new taxon
(algal and all fossil taxa exempted) must, in order to
be validly published, be accompanied by a Latin
description or diagnosis or by a reference to a
previously and effectively published Latin description
or diagnosis.
Algae = 1 January, 1958.
Fossils = 1 January, 1996.
All other plants = I January, 1935.
 All names of plants are either taken from Latin or if
adopted from other language have to be treated as
Latin. Principle V of the code states,” Scientific
names of taxonomic groups are treated as Latin
regardless of their derivation”.
The Latin Alphabet and
Pronunciation
 Origin of the Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet has been derived
from Greek alphabet and initially had 24
letters. Upsilon and Zeta as Y and Z were
later added so Latin now has 26 letters.
At first the Latin alphabet existed only in the
form of capitals. By the eighteenth century A.
D. alternative small letters had developed.
The sloping letters known as italics in
which botanical names are usually printed,
derive from the hand-writing of 15th century
Italian scholars, made popular by Aldus
Manutius (1450-1515 AD) and his son.
 Pronunciation
 Botanical Latin is essentially a written
language, but the scientific names of plants
often occur in speech.
 At least 80% of plant names are
commemorative names.
 The ideal method with most names
commemorating persons is to pronounce
them as nearly as possible like the original
name but with a Latin ending.
 In Latin every vowel is pronounced (hence co-
to-ne-as-ter and not cotone- aster). The same
applies to the latinized Greek.
 Some Latin Terms Used In Botany
 Habitats
Brooks amnes
Rivers fluvii
Pools stagna
Lakes lacus
The sea mare
Seacoasts littora
Places that are
periodically flooded inudata
Stony places lapidosa
Pastures campi
 Deserts deserta
Rocky places rupestria
Sands arena
Rubbish, debris dumps ruderata
Grassy places graminosis
Gardens hortis
Mountainous places montosis
Wild places or woody sylvestris
places
Woods sylvis
 
 Geographical terms
  Territory ager
County comitatus
Kingdom regnum
Valley vallis
Valley enclosed on convallis
all sides
Bay/gulf sinus
District pagus
Peninsula peninsula
 Some of the Latin abbreviations used
in Botany
To save both space and time, botanical
Latin employs a number of
abbreviations. In certain contexts they
express facts more simply than would a
full verbal explanation. Some commonly
used abbreviations are:
 
Abbreviation Full Term Meaning
 
ad. int. ad interim meanwhile, for the present
a. d., a. dom. anno dominus year of the Lord
adv. advena alien, hence introduced
aet. aetatis of his age; aet 60 means
aged 60 years
aff. affinis akin to, bordering
auct. auctorum of authors
auct. noun. auctorum of some authors
nonnullorum
auct. mult. actorum of many authors
multorum
c., ca. circa, circiter about
cf., cfr. confer compare
cv. cultivarietus cultivar
e. g. exampli gratia for example
et al. et alii and others
e.p. ex parte in part, partly
f., fig. figura figure
fil. filius son
f. figura/filius/ figure/son/
forma form
h. hortus garden
i.e. id est that is
ib., ibid. Ibidem the same, in
the same place
l.c., loc. cit. loco citato at the place cited
n.v. non visus not seen
s.l. sensu lato in a broad sense
s.str sensu stricto in a narrow
sense
sp. species species
syn. synonymon synonym
u.s. ut supra as above
viz. vizelicet namely
 SOME LATIN PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES

SOME LATIN PREFIXES

ab-away from, e.g. abaxialis – away from the
axis
ante-before, e.g. antecedens – going before,
preceding
circum-around, e.g. circumdans – surrounding,
circumferentia – circumference
contra-, contro-against, e.g. controversus – turned
against
infra-(hypo-) below, e.g. infranodis – below the
node
non- not, e.g. nonscriptus – not written upon,
without markings
post-(meta-) after behind, later, e.g.
postmeridianus – after midday
retro- back, behind, e.g. retrocurvus – curved back
se- out, without, apart, e.g. segragatus – kept apart
semi-(hemi-) half, e.g. semicircularis – semi-circular
semper- always, e.g. sempervirens – evergreen
sub- below, under, almost, approaching e.g.
subacaulis – almost stem less,
submerses – growing under water
super-(hyper-) above e.g. superpositus – placed
above
supra- above, over, e.g. supracanus – grey above,
supranodis – above a nodel
trans- beyond, through, across, e.g. transalpinus –
beyond the alps, transportatus – carried across
 SOME LATIN SUFFIXES

-ago indicates resemblance or connection, e.g.

plumbago – kind of lead (from plumbum –
lead)
-arium indicates a place where something is
done or a container, e.g. herbarium –
collection of dried plants, aquarium –
house of aquatics
-aster indicates inferiority or incomplete resemblance,
hence often applied to the wild
equivalent of a cultivated plant, e.g.
oleaster – the wild olive
-etum indicates collective place of growth, hence plant
association, e.g. quercetum – oak-wood,
bambusetum – bamboo grove
-orium indicates place of work or action, e.g.
laboratorium – laboratory
-aceus indicates resemblance, e.g. coriaceus –
leathery, rosaceus – rose-like
-anus indicates position, connection or
possession, e.g. africanus -
African, montanus – relating to mountains
-aticus indicates place of growth, e.g. sylvaticus
– belonging to woods
-estris indicates place of growth e.g. rupestris
dwelling among rocks
-oides indicates resemblance, e.g. arachnoides –
like a spider’s web
 COLOUR TERMS

1.  Colourless and White

White albus
Snow-white (as the purest white) niveus
Pure white (very pure but
not so clear as niveus) candidus
Milk-white (dull white verging to blue) lacteus
Chalk-white (very dull white, with cretaceous,
a little touch of grey) calcareous
Silvery (a little changing to argenteus
bluish grey with metallic luster)
  2. Grey

Ash-grey (a mixture of pure white and pure black) cinereus

Pearl-grey (pure grey, a little verging to blue) griseus
Lead-grey (with a little metallic luster) plumbeus
Mouse-coloured (grey with touch of red) murinus

3. Brown

Chestnut-brown (dull brown, a little tinged with red) badius

Brown (brown, tinged with grayish or blackish) fuscus
Rusty (light brown, with a little mixture of red) ferrugineus
Cinnamon (bright brown, mixed with yellow and red)
cinnamomeus
Liver-coloured (dull brown, with a little yellow) hepaticus
 4.  Yellow and Orange

Lemon-coloured (the purest yellow without any

brightness) citrinus
Golden yellow (pure yellow and bright) aureus, auratus
Yellow (such yellow as gamboge) luteus
Saffron-coloured (yellow with a dash of brown) croceus
Tawny (dull yellow, with a mixture of grey and brown) fulvus
5.      Green
Green (clear green) viridis
Deep green (green, a little verging upon black) atrovirens
Yellowish green (much stained with yellow) flavovirens
Olive green (a mixture of green and brown) olivaceus
 
 6.      Blue, Violet, and Purple

Prussian blue (a clear bright blue) cyaneus

Blue (something lighter and duller blue) caeruleus
Sky-blue (a light, pure, lively blue) azureus
Violet (pure blue stained with red) violaceus, ianthius
7.      Red
Carmine (the purest red) kermesinus
Red (pure red) ruber, rubescens, rubellus
Rosy (pale pure red) roseus
Flesh-coloured (paler than the last) carneus, incarnatus
Purple (dull red, with a slight dash of blue) purpureus
 
8.      Variegations, Markings and Quality
Variegated (the colour disposed in
various irregular, sinuous spaces) variegatus
Blotched (the colour disposed in broad, irregular blotches)
maculatus
Spotted (the colour disposed in small spots) guttatus
Dotted (the colour disposed in very small round spots)
punctatus
Banded (when there are transverse strips of one colour
crossing another) faciatus
Striped (when there are longitudinal strips of one colour
crossing another) vittatus
Painted (when colours are disposed in streaks
of unequal intensity) pictus
Lettered (when the spots upon a surface
assume the form and appearance of letters) grammicus
 Latin and Plant Nomenclature
 Latin is now the language of plant nomenclature.
Article 36 of Tokyo code (1994) states that ”In
order to be validly published, a name of a new
taxon of plants, the algae and all fossils excepted,
published on or after 1 Jan. 1935 must be
accompanied by a Latin description or diagnosis or
by a reference to a previously and effectively
published Latin description or diagnosis.
 Man has given names to all the objects that have
become known to him. This exercise of giving
names to objects is called - nomenclature.
 Plant Nomenclature deals with the application of
names to an unnamed plant. Like all objects,
plants are also given names for two main
purposes:
 as an aid to communication,
 to indicate relationships.
 While names of most objects, including plants,
are collective names for individuals of any one
kind those of human beings are individual names.
Most plants usually bear two types of names:
(i) common names,
(ii) scientific names.
 Common Names of Plants
 Many plants which are useful to man have
been given common names or vernacular
names by people in their common dialect.
Common names have many drawbacks viz.
 Common names can serve as means of
communication only amongst the people
using the language in which the common
name has been given,
 Common names are not international in
character and hence their usage is limited to
a limited area,
 Common names indicate no close affinities
e.g. Oaks are species of Quercus whereas
the ‘poison oak’ is Rhus, the silver oak is
Grevelia, the ‘ tanbark oak’ is Lithocarpus
and the ‘Jerusalum oak’ is a Chenopodium
sp.
 Common names are misleading in that
same name has often been given to wholly
different plants e.g. Pine in vernacular may
be a species of Pinus, Araucaria, Agathis,
Callitris, or Casuarina.
 Scientific Names of Plants
 Botanists have given scientific names to plants in order to
overcome the difficulties posed by common names.
 Scientific names are methodical and provide means of
international communication.
 Botanists of the world agreed to give scientific names of
plants in Latin.
 The reason for selecting Latin was that-
- it is now a ‘dead language’ not being used by any country
or nation at present,
- at one time it was widely used language thought Europe
and a lot of botanical literature has been written in Latin.  
 Scientific names indicate generic and usually genetic
relationships and one, therefore, of biological significance.
 Scientific names are international in scope and are common
to all tongues and are relatively unambiguous.
 Formation of Names and Epithets in Latin
 The discovery of new organisms and the need to
provide them and also hitherto misnamed
organisms with names, which must not duplicate
names already used, together make it necessary for
systematists to continually publish new names.
Such names are mostly generic or specific.
 
Formation of Plant Names:
The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature
(St Louis Code, 2000) governs the formation of
generic (Art. 20) and specific epithet (Art. 23) of
plant names….

Generic names of plants

 Commemorative names: Generic names have been created

in commemoration of some person usually a botanist or a
patron of Botany (after their names) e.g. Bauhinia,
Caesalpinia, Hookerea, Lonicera etc.

 By combining two or more Greek or Latin words

(compounding of words to form compounds) usually
expressing some distinctive feature of the plant e.g.
Hygrophila (“marsh loving”), Polygala (“more milk”),
Acanthospermum (“spiny fruit”).

 From their resemblances: Generic names of plants have

been given on the basis of their resemblances to something
e.g. Hippuris (like a horse’s tail) Alopecurus (like a fox’s tail)
Delphinium (like a dolphin) Plumbago (like lead) etc.
 By allusion to mythological transformations: Some
generic names of plants have been given in the
belief of these plants being transformations of
some mythological characters e.g. Daphne (a
nymph transformed into a tree to escape the
pursuing Apollo) Narcissus (a beautiful youth in
Greek legend who loved his own image and
transformed into Narcissus plant).
 By modifying the name of a related genus by
adding prefixes or suffixes e.g. Oryzopsis (from
Oryza) Pseudosasa (from Sasa) Sinarundinaria
(from Arundinaria).
 By transliteration of Greek words: Many generic
names have been coined by writing Greek names
into Roman characters (transliteration) e.g.
Aconitum, Anemone, Antirrhinum Aristolochia etc.
 By concocting anagrams from names of related genus: Many
generic names of plants have been coined by concocting
anagram (by rearranging the letters of the name of a closely
related genus) e.g. Sarditia from Aristida, Milula from Allium,
Ophrestia from Tephrosia, Enomegra from Argemone.
 By Latinization of native names: Generic names can be
created from various native names (provided they are fairly
short and euphonious) but then these are to be either latinized
or treated so e.g. Sasa, Tsuga and Nandina are of Japaneae
origin, Madhuca and Vanda are of Indian origin, Coffea and
Taraxacum are of Arabic origin, Jasminum of Persian origin,
Ailanthus of Malaysian origin, Nelumbo of Ceylon origin and so
on.
 From their reputed virtues: Some generic names have been
coined from their reputed virtues e.g. Aristolochia, Malva, etc.
 From their provenance: Very few generic names are after
their source or origin e.g. Ligusticum from Liguria (Italy),
Stoechas from Stoechades (S. France).
 Specific Names of Plants
 
 Art. 23: The name of a species is a binary
combination consisting of the name of the genus
followed by a single specific epithet in the form of
an adjective, a noun in the genitive, or a word in
apposition, or several words, but not a phrase
name of one or more descriptive substantive and
associated adjectives in the ablative, nor certain
other irregularly formed designation.
 The epithet in the name of a species may be taken
from any source, whatever, and may even be
composed arbitrarily.
 Formation of specific epithets:
 
There are several ways in which specific epithets have been
coined because of the laxity in the Code. While forming
specific epithets by any of these methods it is obligatory that
the gender of specific epithet should match with the gender
of the generic epithet as also the number.
 
 Geographical names: Name of countries and localities may
be used for coining names of specific epithets e.g. indica
(from India) americana (from America), himalayensis (from
Himalaya), kashmiriana (from Kashmir), occidentalis
(western), orientalis (eastern), etc. e.g. Mangifera indica.
 Commemorative names: A very common type of specific
epithet is the commemorative name, coined in honour of
some person e.g. hookeriana, roxburghii, kashaypi etc.e.g.
Pinus roxburghii.
 Compound epithets: By coining a compound epithet
indicating their resemblance to something e.g. boerhavifolia
(leaves like Boerhavia), equisetiformis (appearing like
Equisetum), portulacastrum (like Portulaca), platyphyllus
(broad leaved), macranthus, grandiflora (large flowered).e.g.
Thunbergia grandiflora.
 Ecological epithets: (Habitats) specific epithets are also
coined from the habitat of the plant e.g. aquatica (in water),
terrestris (on land), vulgaris (on barren fields), sylvestris (of
woods, forests), arvensis (of cultivated fields). e.g. Bambusa
vulgaris.
 Epithets from colour terms: specific epithets of plant names
are very commonly also coined from the colour of plant or
plant parts e.g. White = albus, Black = niger, Yellow = luteus,
Green = viridis, Blue (persian) = cyaneus, Red = ruber; in
Greek erythro, Violet = violaceus, Changing colour =
mutabilis, bicolor (two coloured). Various shades in the
above colours (and other colours not mentioned above) have
various terms given to them and this list is very long.e.g.
Cassia bicolor.
 Epithets from variegations, markings etc.
present on the plant parts:
Variegated = variegatus,
Striped = vitatus,
Blotched = maculatus,
Dotted = punctatus,
Spotted = guttatus.
 Specific epithets indicating some unique
feature of the species e.g. altus (tall),
cuneatus (wedge-shaped), elongatis
(elongated), edulis (edible), pubescens
(smooth), asper (rough), hirta (hairy).e.g.
Euphorbia hirta.
 Botanical names of plants have to be written in a specific
manner as prescribed by the code.
 
 All generic names must begin with a capital letter while the
specific epithet should invariably start with a small letter.
 While the generic names may have any gender, the gender of
specific epithet should agree (be the name) with the gender of
the generic name. It is to match the gender of the specific
epithet with that of the genus that the same epithet is written
variously in different names e.g. indica, indicum, indicus or
himalaica, himalaicum, himalaicus.

- Masculine endings = -us (except for names of trees, countries

and rivers which are regarded as feminine),
- Feminine endings = -a,
- Neuter endings = -um.
 The epithets coined from a particular source should be brief (not
very long), euphonious, and should preferably express some
character of the plant.
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