oides is used for a ‘new’ plant that reminds the botanist of a familiar old one.
Which is not helpful to local residents who have never seen the ‘old familiars’
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The fibers on the stem of a Straight-Stalked Entoloma notably twist along their way up as opposed to running straight down the stalk like a normal mushroom.
Eastern and Western Poison Ivy both range from the east coast to the west. Woody/Vine Poison Ivy would have been more appropriate names.
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Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus.
Puffin Fratercula arctica.
I’ve been told puffin was originally a term for any seabird collected for food, which Manx shearwaters were. It is only recently that the term has become restricted to Fratercula.
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Let’s not get into a debate on the scientific merit of plant name conservation please.
In the case of the Bad-wing Moth, “abortiva” indicates that the hindwings look like they were aborted (in a non-current sense), stopped in an incomplete state.
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Oh, debate over the merits of plant name conservation can be a fun discussion, as long as we don’t take it too seriously!
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From Latin acacia, from Ancient Greek ἀκακία (akakía) “a thorny Egyptian tree”, from ἀκή (akḗ) “point, thorn” .
AKA as an Australian wattle. With OOPS no thorns.
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Oh, come on, if I think hard I’m sure I can think of one with thorns.
But Egyptian wattles are pretty rare down here.
Still, I am glad I had to re-learn the names of a few dozen taxa instead of 1,200 or so.
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Oh interesting, I didn’t think of that! Thank you for clarifying! :)
If you’re looking to find the original scientific description of a plant, I’d recommend Tropicos. If the taxon has a BHL link, you can follow that to see the article in which it was described. If it was previously described as something else, you can follow the “basionym” link to see that taxon (and potentially the original description).
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It was life-changing when I first learned about the origin of Salsola tragus as an invasive species, especially in the American southwest, because it’s so strongly associated with cowboy western movies in popular culture as tumbleweeds.
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I don’t know any plant examples, but there is an interesting animal example:
The Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger) is named “Fox” because of its reddish hair on the belly and tail (i.e. like a storybook fox). But the scientific name means “Black Squirrel”. The epithet niger comes from the fact in the eastern part of their range, Fox Squirrels can have black pigmentation on their heads. But Fox Squirrels are NOT black over most of their range. So over most of their range Sciurus niger is not black, and in the east it is not particularly "fox colored’.
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