Since the first printing of Carl Linnaeus's Species Plantarum in 1753, plants have been assigned one epithet or name for their species and one name for their genus, a grouping of related species. These scientific names have been catalogued in a variety of works, including Stearn's Dictionary of Plant Names for Gardeners. William Stearn (1911–2001) was one of the pre-eminent British botanists of the 20th century: a Librarian of the Royal Horticultural Society, a president of the Linnean Society and the original drafter of the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants. The first column below lists seed-bearing species epithets from Stearn's Dictionary, Latin for Gardeners by Lorraine Harrison, The A to Z of Plant Names by Allen Coombes, The Gardener's Botanical by Ross Bayton, and the glossary of Stearn's Botanical Latin. Epithets from proper nouns, proper adjectives, and two or more nouns are excluded, along with epithets used only in species names that are no longer widely accepted. Classical and modern meanings are provided in the third column, along with citations to Charlton T. Lewis's An Elementary Latin Dictionary.
Key LG = language: (L)atin or (G)reek L = derived from Latin, or both Classical Latin and Greek (unless otherwise noted) G = derived from Greek H = listed by Harrison, and (except as noted) by Bayton D = listed in Stearn's Dictionary S = listed in Stearn's Botanical Latin DS = listed in Stearn's Dictionary, with the word or root word listed in Botanical Latin C = listed by Coombes
Epithets
See also
Glossary of botanical terms List of Greek and Latin roots in English List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names List of plant genus names with etymologies: A–C, D–K, L–P, Q–Z List of plant genera named after people: A–C, D–J, K–P, Q–Z List of plant family names with etymologies
Notes
Citations
References Bayton, Ross (2020). The Gardener's Botanical: An Encyclopedia of Latin Plant Names. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-20017-0. Coombes, Allen (2012). The A to Z of Plant Names: A Quick Reference Guide to 4000 Garden Plants. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. ISBN 9781604691962. Cullen, Katherine E. (2006). Biology: The People Behind the Science. New York, New York: Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9780816072217. Gledhill, David (2008). The Names of Plants. New York, New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521866453. Harrison, Lorraine (2012). Latin for Gardeners: Over 3,000 Plant Names Explained and Explored. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226009193. Lewis, Charlton T. (1891). An Elementary Latin Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved August 27, 2025. ISBN 9780199102051. Also available online at the Perseus Digital Library. The Linnean Society (August 1992). "Publications by William T. Stearn on bibliographical, botanical and horticultural subjects, 1977–1991; a chronological list". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 109 (4): 443–451. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1992.tb01443.x. ISSN 0024-4074. POWO (2019). "Plants of the World Online". London: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Archived from the original on March 22, 2017. Retrieved January 1, 2021. See terms of use. Stearn, William (2004). Botanical Latin. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. ISBN 9780881926279. Stearn, William (2002). Stearn's Dictionary of Plant Names for Gardeners. London: Cassell. ISBN 9780304364695.
Further reading Brown, Roland W. (1977) [1st Pub. 1954]. Composition of Scientific Words : A manual of methods and a lexicon of materials for the practice of logotechnics. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institutional Press. ISBN 978-0-87474-286-2. OCLC 4495758. Retrieved 27 August 2025 – via Internet Archive. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (2013). An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon. Mansfield Centre, Connecticut: Martino Fine Books. ISBN 9781614273974. Reprint of the 1888/1889 edition. Available online at the Perseus Digital Library.