Re: Amorphophallus titanum

Dear Eduardo,
 
A good point.
 
The suffix -um is neutral and it fits to all grammatic genera:
Also feminine botanical genera species epithet can end with -um,
the examples are: Arisaema triphyllum, Alocasia scalprum, Aglaonema commutatum, Syngonium auritum...
But indeed, I have never heard another construction like Amorphophallus titanum.
 
I always wondered why Alocasia macrorrhizos is a proper name, the epithet is of Greek origin,
and I don't know why it is named so. The suffix -os is masculine in Greek, and Alocasia is feminine.
And what do you think about the name Synandrospadix vermitoxicus?
I can't find anywhere what is the gender of the word "spadix". Isn't it feminine?
 
There is also one important note,
many people erroneously take genera ending with -is as masculine, but it is feminine,
Ariopsis peltata or in other families Iris pumila, Clematis lanuginosa etc. 
Also the genera ending with -as are feminine: Anubias gigantea, Zamioculcas zamiifolia, Cycas revoluta.
But... the pine tree, Pinus seems to be a masculine word, and we have Pinus sylvestris, P. excelsa, P. nigra,
while some other species of pine end usually with -us: like Pinus strobus.
 
Strange things...
Marek
----- Original Message -----
From: e*@inhotim.org.br
To: aroid-l@www.gizmoworks.com
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 4:34 PM
Subject: [Aroid-l] Amorphophallus titanum

Dear fellows, 

I have a silly (but important) question for you. As far as I know, Amophophallus is a masculine word, am I correct?

In Latin, except for the name of traditional trees (Malus, Pyrus, etc), all names ended in -us are male names. So it is correct to say that all adjective epithets in Amorphophallus species  end with -us (A. gomboczianus, A. hirsutus, A lunatus, A. glaucophyllus, etc). 

Why Amophophallus titanum is not A. titanus? Other species with a similar epithet (I don't remember none in plant kingdom, but I know Dorcus titanus - a beetle)...  Wilbert, do you have any reason for this?

Very best wishes,

Eduardo. 



INHOTIM 
Dr. EDUARDO G. GONÇALVES

Curador Botânico

Jardim Botânico


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