Gerard's Herbal

Glossary of Latin descriptive words in plant names.

 

Gerard and Johnson wrote before Linnaeus' binomial system, but the standard way of naming plants in their day was (name of plant in Latin) + (descriptive words, often several of them.) For example in Chap. 6 of Book 2, Rapistrum flore albo erucæ foliis means Rapistrum (Radish) with white flowers, and leaves like Eruca (Rocket). This glossary gives the meanings of the descriptive words.

Names of other plants (as Rocket in the example above) are not shown.

Note that the endings of many of these words change to agree with the gender or case of the preceding word; for example, albus, alba, album, albo all mean white.

Also that -que added to the end of a word means and, -ior means more and -issimus means most.

 

Abortiva

Premature

Acaulis

Without a stem

Acetabulum

Of the hip-socket

Acetosa

Sour-tasting

Acroschiston

Split at the top

Aculeis

Stinging

Acutum

Sharp

Adulterina

False

Ægyptius

Of Egypt

Æstivalis, æstiva

Of summer

Agrestis

Of the fields or countryside

Agria

Wild

Alba

White

Albida

Whitish

Aldroandi

Of Ulisse Aldrovandi, an Italian botanist (d. 1605)

Alopecuri

Of foxes

Alpinum

Of the Alps

Alterum

Other

Altilis

Fat

Altissimus

Highest

Amarum

Bitter

Ambarvalis

Relating to the ceremony of Rogation, a Church procession and service celebrated during the three days before Ascension Thursday. This is forty days after Easter, and so falls in May or early June.

Amerina

Of Ameria, (modern name Amelia), a town in central Italy

Amœno

Delightful

Amoris

Of love

Amygdaloides

Almond-like

Anglica, anglicana , anglorum

Of England

Angustifolia

Narrow-leaved

Apulei

Of Apuleius, author of a herbal about 400 AD.

Aquaticus, aquatile

Of water

Arborea , arborescens

Tree-like

Arenolis

Of sand

Arvensis, arvorum

Of tillage fields

Asininus

Of a donkey

Asper

Rough

Asperior

More rough or jagged

Assurgens

Rising up

Atrarubente

Blackish red

Atropurpurescens

Blackish purple

Atticus

Of Attica, the area around Athens in Greece

Attollens

Rising up

Aurea

Golden

Auricomus

Golden-haired

Auriculae

Ears

Austriacus

Of Austria

Aut

Or

Aut potius

Or rather

Avicennæ

Of Abu Sina, known in the West as Avicenna, a Persian physician and naturalist of the 10th & 11th Centuries.

Bacca

Berry

Bacciferum

Berry-bearing

Bætica

Of Boeotia, an area of Greece north of Athens

Barbarum

Of Barbary, strictly North Africa west of Egypt, but often used in a more general sense to mean any Arab country

Batrachioides

Frog-like

Belgarum

Of the Belgians

Biflorum

Two-flowered or twice-flowering

Boelii

Of Boelius, a Dutch contemporary of Johnson.

Borussicum

From Prussia

Bosci

Of the woods

Botryodes

Like a bunch of grapes

Brabantica

Of Brabant, an area now divided between France, Belgium and the Netherlands

Brevioribus

With shorter

Bubonium

Of buboes, which are swellings of inflamed lymph glands in the groin

Bubula

Of a cow or ox

Bulbosa

Bulbous in shape or having bulbs

Bursa

A purse

Cæli

Of the sky

Cærulea

Blue

Calamistrato

Curled

Calicuthium

Of Calicut, a city in India, also called Kozhikode

Cameraria

Climbing

Campestris

Of the fields

Candido

Pure white

Caninum

Of dogs

Cantabrica

Of Cambridge

Capillaris

Hairy, hair-like

Capitata

Headed

Capite

Head

Cardamantica

Like Cress

Cardiaca

Of the heart

Castoris

Of a beaver

Caulis

With a stem

Cava

Hollow

Centunculi

A patchwork of different colours

Ceratites

Horned

Cerebrum

Of the brain

Cervi

Of deer

Chalcedonica

Of Chalcedon, a suburb of Istanbul now called Kadikoy

Chamæ-

Dwarf

Chela

A claw

Chironium

Of Chiron the centaur

Cilicia

Of Cilicia, a Roman province encompassing what is now the eastern part of the south coast of Turkey

Citrina

Lemon-yellow

Clavellata, Clavatus

Club-shaped

Clusii

Of Carolus Clusius (1526–1609) a French/Dutch botanist who wrote extensively on plants.

Clypeatum

Resembling a round shield

Cocciger, Coccifera

Scarlet-bearing

Coccinia

Scarlet coloured

Cognata

Known as

Cognatum

Related to

Columbinum

Of doves

Comoso

Long-haired

Concava

Hollow

Constantinopolitanum

Of Istanbul

Convallium

Of the valley

Cordatum

Heart-shaped

Cordi

Of the heart, or of Valerius Cordus, (1515-1544) whose Dispensatorium, one of the greatest early modern pharmacopoeias was published in 1546. 

Corniculatum

Horned

Corymbifera

Having berries like Ivy

Coxendicum

Of the hips

Crassus

Thick, fleshy

Crenato

Notched

Creticum

Of Crete

Crispum

With curled leaves

Cruciata

Crossing or cross-shaped

Cuculi

Of the cuckoo

Culinaria

Used in cooking

Cypria

Of Cyprus

Dæmonum

Of demons

Dalechampii

Of Jacobus Dalechampius (Jacques Dalechamp), 1513-1588, a French physician, botanist and scholar.

Damascena

Of Damascus

Daphnoides

Like Bay or Laurel

Decima

Tenth

Denticulatus

Toothed

Diaboli

Of the Devil

Dioscoridis

Of Dioscorides, a 1st Century AD Greek medical writer

Dissectis

Deeply cut

Distincta

Separate

Domestica

Of the household

Dulcis

Sweet

Dumetorum

Of thorn bushes or hedges

Duracina

Having hard fruit

Durius

Harder

Echinata

Prickly

Edulis

Edible

Effigio

Shaped like

Elegantissimus

Most elegant

Enneaphyllos

Having nine leaves

Erectior

More upright

Erraticum

Wandering

Excelsa

Very high

Exigua

Slender

Exoticum

Foreign

Fabago

Like beans

Facie

Appearance

Falcata

Like a scythe-blade

Fatua, fatuina

Simple, foolish

Ferens

Bearing

Ferruginea

Iron-coloured

Ferulaceum

Like Fennel

Fibrinum

Of a beaver

Fimbriatis

Fibrous

Fistula

Having a tube

Flammeus

Flaming, fiery

Flandrorum

Of Flanders, an area making up the northern part of modern Belgium

Flavo

Yellow

Florens

Flowering

Flos, Flore

Flower

Flosculis

With little flowers

Fluidum

Flowing

Fœmina

Female. The old herbarists regarded some plants as male and others as female, on what basis is unclear.

Fœtida

Stinking

Fœtidagarum

Stinking of rotten fish

Foliis

Leaves; in (name of other plant) foliis = having leaves like the other plant

Forficulum

A scissors or shears

Fortis

Strong

Fragiferum

Strawberry-bearing

Frisicum

Of Frisia, an area now in Northern Holland.

Fructum

Fruit

Fruticosior

More shrubby

Fruticosum, frutescens

Shrubby, having many shoots.

Fuchsii

Of Leonhard Fuchs or Fuchsius, (1501–1566), a German physician and botanist whose New Herbal was the first to use accurate and detailed illustrations to identify the plants.

Fugax

Fleeting

Fullonum

Of fullers (workers who clean and prepare cloth after it has been woven)

Furcatum

Forked

Fuscum

Dark-coloured

Galericulata

Having a skull-cap

Galli, Gallica

Of France

Gallinæ

Of hens

Galloprovinciæ

Of Provençe, in Southeastern France

Gallorum

Of the French

Geminata

Twinned

Germanicum

Of Germany

Giganteum

Giant

Glabrum

Smooth

Globosus

Globe-shaped

Græcum

Of Greece

Grandius

Great

Gruinale

Crane-like

Guttata

Speckled

Hæmatoides

Like blood

Hederaceum

Like Ivy

Helvetica

Of Switzerland

Heptaphyllos

Seven-leaved

Heraclea, herculea

Of Hercules

Heracleotica

Of Hercules, or of one of the several towns called Heracleia or Heracleum

Herbariorum

Of herbarists

Herbido

Grass-like

Hibernum

Of winter

Hiericontea

Of Jericho

Hierosolymitanus

Of Jerusalem

Hirci, hircinus

Of a billy-goat

Hirsutum

Hairy

Hirundinariæ

Of swallows, swallow-tailed

Hispanica

Of Spain

Hispanorum

Of the Spanish

Hispido

Prickly or bristly

Hortensis

Of the garden

Humilis

Low-growing

Hyemale

Of winter

Illyricus

Of Illyria, the eastern shore of the Adriatic

Ilva

Of Elba, an island in the Mediterranean between Corsica and Italy.

Improbus

Bad, false

Incanum

Grey or hoary

Indium, Indicum

Of India

Iners

Inactive

Infectoria

Used in dyeing

Infernalis

Of Hell

Inguinalis

Of the groin

Inodora

Scentless

Inutilis

Useless

Inversa

Upside-down

Irriguam

Watered, irrigated

Iudaica

Jewish

Laciniatis

Having flaps

Laconia

Of Sparta

Lactea, lactescens

Milky

Lactifica

Milk-making

Lacustris

Of lakes

Læthale

Deadly

Lævis

Light

Lanuginoso

Downy or woolly

Lassulata

Worn out

Latifolium

Broad-leaved

Latiore

Wider

Latissimo

Widest

Lato

Wide

Leguminosa

Pod-bearing, leguminous

Leporina, Leporis

Of hares

Leptophyllon

Slender-leaved

Liburnica

Of Liburnia, an area on the Adriatic coast of Croatia.

Lignosum. Lignea

Woody

Lingua

A tongue

Littoreum

Of the seashore

Lobelii

Of Matthias de Lobel or Lobelius, a Flemish Botanist (d. 1616)

Longissimo

Longest

Lunaris

Of the Moon

Lupina

Of wolves

Lusitanica

Of Lusitania, a Roman province corresponding roughly to modern Portugal.

Lutea

Golden yellow

Lutetiana

Of Paris

Lycnhites

A candle wick

Lycocotonon

Wolf-slayer

Macrorhizon

Large-rooted

Maculostum, maculatum

Stained or marked

Magnus, maius

Large

Major

Larger

Malus

An apple

Maniacum

Insane

Mansue

Soft, gentle

Mansuefacta

Tame

Mariæ, Marianus

Of (the Virgin) Mary

Marina

Of the sea or the seaside

Mas

Male. The old herbarists regarded some plants as male and others as female, on what basis is unclear.

Massiliensium

Of Marseille, in France

Mater

Mother

Matronalis

Of the mother

Matthioli

Of Matthiolus, or Pietro Andrea Mattioli, an Italian botanist and physician of the 16th Century, who translated and expanded Disocorides' Materia Medica

Maxima

Largest

Mechliniesne

Of Mechelen, a city in Belgium.

Media

Medium, middle

Mellita

Of honey

Mesuæ

Of Mesua, or Masawaiyh, an 8th-century Persian medical writer.

Mexicanum

Of Mexico

Miniato

Painted with red lead

Minimum

Smallest

Minor

Smaller

Minus

Small

Mirabile

Wonderful

Mithridate

An antidote

Mitius

Mild

Mollior

Softer

Monachi

Of monks

Monspeliensium

Of Montpellier, a city in the South of France

Montanus

Of the mountains

Montis Ceti

Of Mons Cetium, a hill and region in Lower Austria

Mordax

Biting or stinging

Mortua

Dead

Moschata

Smelling like musk

Moysis

Of Moses

Multifido

Divided into many parts

Multiplex

Double-flowered

Muralis, murorum

Of walls

Muricatum

Pointed

Muris, murinum

Of mice

Muscoso

Mossy

Myrsinitis

Resembling or smelling of myrrh

Napifolia

Turnip-leaved

Narbonense

Of Narbonne, a city in the South of France

Nemorum, nemorosus

Of open woodland

Niger, Nigro

Black

Nigricans

Blackish

Niveum

Snowy, of snow

Noctu

By night

Nodosa

With nodes or joints on the stem

Nonum

Ninth

Nostras

Our

Nothum

Bastard

Nutante

Nodding

Obsoniorum

Used for sauces

Obtuso

Blunt

Odoratum

Strong-smelling

Odoriferum

Aromatic

Officinarium, officinalis

Used in medicine

Olens

Smelling

Omnium

Of everything

Opii odore vehementi

Smelling strongly of opium

Ornans

Decorating, adorning

Pagana

Rustic, of the countryside

Pallida

Pale or colourless

Palustris

Of the swamp

Pannonicum

Of Pannonia, a Roman province encompassing present-day western Hungary, eastern Austria, northern Croatia, north-western Serbia, northern Slovenia, western Slovakia and northern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Paralius

Growing by the seaside

Pardalianches

Leopard-killing

Parvum

Small

Passerina

Of a sparrow

Pastoris

Of shepherds

Patavinum

Of Padua, a city in Italy

Pelagicum

Of the sea

Peleponnense

Of the Peleponnese, the southern part of mainland Greece

Peltatum

Half-moon shaped

Penæ

Of Pierre Pena, a 16th Century French herbarist.

Pentagonia

Five-sided

Pentaphylla

Five-leaved

Perampla

Very large

Perdicium

Of partridges

Peregrina

Wandering

Perfoliata

Through the leaf

Perpusillum

Extremely small

Persicum

Of Persia

Perticalis

Used for poles

Peruana, peruviana

Of Peru, or South America generally

Pes

A foot

Petræum

Of stones, either meaning growing in stony ground, or used for treating kidney or bladder stones

Phacoides

Like a lentil

Pinnula

A little plume

Planum

Flat

Plebia

Lowly

Pleno

Full

Plinii

Of Pliny the Elder, a 1st Century AD Roman writer, author of an encyclopædic Natural History

Poetarum

Of the poets

Polyanthemum, polyanthus

Having many flowers

Polyschides

Having many narrow strips

Polyspermon

Having many seeds

Pomiferum

Apple-bearing

Pompeiana

Of Pompeii

Ponticum

Of Pontus, an area now in Turkey on the south coast of the Black Sea

Porcellia

Of little pigs

Porcinum

Of pigs

Praæmorsa

Bitten off at the end

Præcox

Early appearing or flowering

Prænestina

Of Prænestis, now called Palestrina, a town about 35 kilometres east of Rome.

Praestantiore

More excellent

Pratense, Pratorum

Growing in meadows

Primum

First; either the first described, or else the earliest flowering or appearing

Prior

Earlier

Proveniens

Arising from

Pulcherrima

Most beautiful

Pulchrum

Beautiful

Pullo

Blackish or very dark-coloured

Pumilum

Dwarf

Pumulum

Of wild vines

Punctus

A point or prick

Pungens

Strong-smelling

Punica, Punicea

Of Carthage, an area corresponding to modern Tunisia.

Purpurascens

Purplish

Purpurea

Purple

Pusilla

Very small

Putei

Of a well

Pyriformis

Pear-shaped

Pyxidatus

Like a box or cup

Quartus

Fourth

Quasi

As if

Quernis

Of Oak leaves

Quorundam

Of certain things or people

Radicatum

Rooted

Radice, Radix

Root

Ramosa

Branched

Recentiorum

Fresher

Recta

True, right

Rectum

Upright

Regalis, Regia

Royal

Repens

Creeping

Retuso

Blunt

Rhœas

Flowing

Risus

Laughter

Romana

Of Rome

Romanorum

Of the Romans

Rotundifolium

Round-leaved

Rotundioribus

Rounder

Rubrum, Rubente, Rubellum

Red

Rustica, Rusticanus

Of the countryside

Sacerdotis

Holy

Salamanticum, salamanticensium

Of Salamanca, a city in Spain

Salictarius

Growing among willows

Salutaris

Useful for health

Sanguineum

Bloody

Sanguis draconis

Dragon's Blood, the resin of the Dragon Tree, native to Madeira and the Canary islands; also used of similar substances

Sanguisorba

Blood-stanching

Sardoa

Of Sardinia

Sarracenica

Of Saracens i.e. Muslim Arabs

Sativa

Cultivated

Saxatile

Found among rocks

Scabro

Rough

Scaligeri

Of Scaliger

Scansoria

Climbing

Secundum

Second

Segetum

Of cornfields

Semine

With seeds

Sempervirens

Evergreen

Sempervivum

Everlasting

Senescens

Growing old

Septentrionale

Of the North

Seriphium

Of Seriphos, a small rocky island in the Ægean Sea

Serotinus

Late ripening or flowering

Serpentis

Of snakes

Serratifolia

Having toothed leaves

Sessilis

Having no footstalk

Seu

Also called . .

Silesiacum

Of Silesia, a province now in southwestern Poland

Siliqua

A pod or seed-vessel

Siliquastrum, siliquosus

Pod-bearing

Silvarum

Of the woods

Simiana

Of monkeys or apes

Simplex

Single-flowered

Sive

Also called . .

Solutivus

Loosening, purging

Somniferum

Causing sleep

Species

A kind of

Spinosum

Prickly

Spumeum

Foaming or frothy

Spuria

False

Stans

Standing upright

Stella, Stellaria, Stellatum

Star-like

Sterilis

Sterile, not having seeds

Striatum

Striped

Studiosorum

Of scholars

Styriaca

Of Styria, or Steiermark, a province in Austria

Subrubens

Reddish

Suilla

Of pigs

Supercilium

An eyebrow

Supinum

Lying flat

Surrecta

Upright

Sylvaticus

Of the forest

Sylvestris

Wild

Tauricum

Of bulls, or of the Taurus, a mountain range in southern Turkey

Taurinensium

Of Turin, a city in northern Italy.

Tectorum

Of roofs

Tenerior

More delicate

Tenuifolia

Narrow-leaved

Tenuis

Narrow

Terræ

Of the earth

Terrestris

Of the land

Tertium

Third

Tetragonolobus

Having four lobes in the form of a square

Tetraphyllum

Four-leaved

Tinctoria

Used for dyeing

Torminalis

Used for treating colic

Tragi

Of Tragus, pen name of Hieronymus Bock, a 16th Century German botanist and physician

Tridentinum

Of Trent or Trento, a city in Northern Italy

Trimestris

Three-month

Trollius

Globe-shaped

Tuberosa

Having a swollen root, tuber or bulb(s)

Tunctanus

Of Tunis

Tunica

A tunic or undershirt

Umbellatum

Having flowers in an umbel

Umbilicum

Of the navel

Unguentaria

Used for ointments

Urceolaris

Of pitchers

Urens

Burning

Ursi

Of bears

Valdensium

Of the Waldensian Valleys, an area in the Alps in north-western Italy

Valentina

Of Valencia, in Spain

Vel

Or else

Veneris

Of the Goddess Venus, or physical love

Venti

Of the wind

Vermiculata

Full of worms

Verna, vernis

Of spring

Verrucaria

Of warts

Verum

True

Vesicarium

Of the bladder or having bladders

Via

A path or road

Vidua

Bereft

Villoso

Hairy

Viminalis

Used for basket-weaving

Vinciendo

Binding or wrapping around

Virens

Green

Virgata

Staff or stick-like

Virginianus

Of Virginia, or more generally, anywhere in North America

Viridis

Green

Viscosa

Sticky, used for birdlime or glue

Vitæ

Of life

Vitium

Imperfect

Vitraria

Of glass vessels

Vituli

Of a calf

Vulgare, Vulgatis

Common

Vulgatior

More common

Vulgatissimum

Most common

Vulneraria

Of wounds

 

 

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