Appendix

Erik Acharius (1757-1819), Swedish botanist who pioneered the taxonomy of lichens and is known as the "father of lichenology". He was one of the last students of Linnaeus and continued the work that Linnaeus began, publishing many works on lichens. He was also director of the Vadstena Hospital (which he had founded). The genus Acharia was named for him plus several species. It is not directly stated, but he is mentioned frequently in the work in which the species is first described (in 1824) so it is likely that he is the person that this epithet honors. The taxon in southern Africa with this specific epithet is Graphina acharii, which has the common name Achar's graphina lichen. The genus Acharia in the Achariaceae was published in 1794 by Swedish botanist Carl Peter Thunberg. (Wikipedia)
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Either for (1) William Aiton (1731-1793), Scottish botanist who brought out Hortus Kewensis, a catalog of the plants cultivated at Kew Gardens, or (2) his son William Townsend Aiton (1766-1849) who succeeded his father at Kew and brought out a second and enlarged edition of the Hortus. The genus Aitonia in the Meliaceae was published by Swedish botanist Carl Peter Thunberg for William Aiton in 1776, and there are taxa named Sessuria aitonii, Mesembryanthemum aitonis, Ipomoea aitonii, and others that have been lost to synonymy. The only one I can say for sure that was named for William Aiton (although most probably were) is Mesembryanthemum aitonis, which was published by Nicholaus Joseph von Jacquin in 1777 when Aiton the younger was only 11. I can't find any taxa that were definitely named for the son. (Wikipedia)
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During his secret love affair with Aphrodite (wife of Hephaistus), Ares stationed a sentry named Alectron** (the cock) with orders to warn him when day was breaking. One morning the sentry went to sleep and thus the Sun took the two lovers by surprise and lost no time in telling Hephaistus. Hephaistus then decided to set a trap for his unfaithful wife.
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Amsinckia: for Wilhelm Amsinck (Guilhelmus Amsinckius) (1752-1831), German businessman and politician, first Burgomeister (Mayor) of Hamburg and President of the Senate, patron of botany and the Botanical Garden in Hamburg. The CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names describes him as a botanist, but I can't find any evidence for that claim. Members of the the Amsinck family were prominent merchants in multiple countries including the Netherlands, Hamburg, Portugal, England, France, Hanover, Holstein, Denmark, Suriname and India. Hugh Clarke adds the following: " He attended the Johanneum and Academic High school in Hamburg and studied in Leipzig and Goettingen (1771-1774) and obtained a licentiate qualifying to take a doctorate. In 1786, he became a town councilor (alderman) managing various public offices.... He took office during the French occupation of Hamburg and was particularly active in the negotiations with the French Republic. He made many improvements to Hamburg relating to land reclamation, educational improvement, lighthouse construction, and island requisition." The genus Amsinckia in the Boraginaceae was published in 1831 by German botanist Johann Georg Christian Lehmann. (Wikipedia; CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)
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Venus was captivated by Adonis. Despite a warning from Venus to beware of dangerous animals, Adonis had wounded a wild boar with his spear. The boar then pursued Adonis, buried his tusks in Adonis's side and stretched him dying upon the plain. Having given him the warning, Venus had mounted her swan drawn chariot and driven away through the air.
Venus had not yet reached Cyprus, when she heard coming up through mid-air the groan of her beloved, and turned her white-winged coursers back to earth. As she drew near and saw from on high his lifeless body bathed in blood, she alighted and bending over it, beat her breast and tore her hair. Reproaching the Fates, she said, "Yet theirs shall be but a partial triumph; memorials of my grief shall endure, and the spectacle of your death, my Adonis, and of my lamentation shall be annually renewed. Your blood shall be changed into a flower; that consolation none can envy me." Thus speaking, she sprinkled nectar on the blood; and as they mingled, bubbles rose as in a pool on which raindrops fall, and in an hour's time there sprang up a flower of bloody hue like that of the pomegranate. But it is short lived. It is said that the wind blows the blossoms open, and afterwards blows the petals away; so it is called Anemone, or Wind Flower, from the cause which assists equally in its production and its decay.
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Homer and Hesiod mention four winds, Boreas, Eurus, Notus (in Hesiod, Argestes), and Zephyrus: Aristotle gives twelve, which served as points of the compass..
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Askelpius was entrusted by his father, Apollo, to the Centaur Chiron (q.v.), who taught him medicine.
Asclepias: after the Greek God of medicine. The genus was published by Linnaeus in 1753. (CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names)
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Pallas Athene (Minerva), the goddess of wisdom, was the offspring of Jupiter, without a mother. She sprang forth from his head, completely armed. Her favourite bird was the owl, and the plant sacred to her was the olive.
In commemoration of having united the several tribes of the territory of Attica, of which Athens was the capital, Theseus instituted the festival of Pananthenaea, in honour of Minerva, the patron deity of Athens. The festival differed from the Grecian games chiefly in two particulars. It was peculiar to Athenians, and its chief feature was a solemn procession in which the Peplus, or sacred robe of Minerva, was carried to the Parthenon and suspended before the statue of the goddess. The Peplus was covered with embroidery worked by select virgins of the noblest families of Athens.
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