Re: Agastache
- To: perennials@mallorn.com
- Subject: Re: Agastache
- From: G* O*
- Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 08:06:40 -0400
Claire,
What is your source for the info below? I spent some time with a Classic
Greek lexicon (one of the advantages of being married to an ex-seminarian)
and came up with about the same info. But, there were some other
possibilities, and with no other information, no way to say which is the
correct derivation of the word.
It would be nice (and interesting) to have a dictionary of plant name
derivations..
Latinization:
Similar story from work..The word "mycorrhiza" is a combination of the
Greek mychis (fungus) and rhizon (root) and refers to a symbiosis between
plant roots and certain soil fungi. The person who originally described the
symbiosis named it, and pluralized it in the Greek way, i.e. "mycorrhizae."
But recently, the argument has been made that although the word is composed
of greek roots, it is a botanical term and hence, should be Latinized. So
the official word now from the journal Mycorrhiza is that the plural should
be "mycorrhizas." Those of us who work with the little beasties hate this
term, prefering the old word which lays more gently on the ear.
Gerry
At 11:24 PM 6/21/00 EDT, you wrote:
>Agastache: fem. (gender) Greek agan, very much; stachys, an ear of
wheat; in
>reference to the many flower spikes of these perennial herbs.
>
>On the form used: The scientific names of plants are treated as Latin
>regardless of their derivation........................(Wm. T. Stern)
>
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