All families

Click Family name to view all Genera in that family.

Family: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

ACHARIACEAE
Hidden Flower(Int)

For Erik Acharius, (1737 – 1819)**, Swedish botanist and physician.
(Ch)

AGAPANTHACEAE (G)
Agapanthus Family (Wf)

agape, = brotherly love, charity; anthos, = a flower, the bloom of a flower.
(LS)

AIZOACEAE (G)
Vygie Family(Le)

ai-, = always; zoos, = alive, living. (ability to survive under difficult conditions)
(BL, LS, Le)

ALLIACEAE (La)
Onion Family(Wf)

alium, allium, = garlic.
(LD)

AMARANTHACEAE (= CEHENOPODIACEAE) (La, G, Skr)
Ganna or Goosefoot Family(Le)

a-, an-, = denotes privative, negative; a-, = without, not, -less, un-; mar-, mor-,= die; maraino, = to die away, waste away, languish; marainein, = to wither, decay. anthos, = a flower, the bloom of a flower. (everlasting) (refers to lasting quality of the flowers)
(Ox, ld, LS, Le)

AMARYLLIDACEAE (La)
Amaryllis Family(Wf)

amo, amare, amans, = to love; -illus, = diminutive. Amaryllis, = adopted by Linnaeus; name of a country-girl in Theocritus, Ovid and Virgil; name of a shepherdess.
(ld, BL, Ox, Ca)

ANACARDIACEAE (La)
Mango Family(Le)

ana-, = up, in place or time, back, again, anew; (upon, up, upwards, above) cardia, = the heart. (because the fruits of some species within this genus look like an inverted heart)
(Ox, BL, LS, I8)

ANEMIACEAE (G)
Fern Family(Le)

anemos, = wind; anemaios, = full of wind, windy; anemo-, = pertaining to the wind.
(LS, BL)

ANTHOCEROTACEAE (G)
Moss(Le)

anthos, = a flower, the bloom of a flower; -ceras, from keras, = the horn of an animal; hence ‘horn’. (a horn, hornlike projection)
(LS, BL)

APIACEAE (G, Skr)
Carrot Family(Wf)

apis, = a bee. apium, = parsley, esp. liked by bees; an umbilliferous plant of several species (mountain-parsley, celery etc.). the leaves of one species (water parsley, our celery, the Apium graveolens) were used by the ancients for garlands, on account of their strong fragrance.
(ld)

APOCYNACEAE (G)
Milkweed Family(Wf)

apo-, api- , = from, away from, out of, asunder, free; kuon, = a dog (as a word of reproach).
(BL, ld)

APONOGETONACEAE (G)
Waterblommetjie(Le) Pond Blosom Family(Wf)

Aponus was a hot spring near Padua. geton, = neighbour. A partial anagram of Potamogeton, which in turn comes from Patmos, a river, and geiton, a neighbour.
(Le, BL, M)

AQUIFOLIACEAE (La)
Holly Family(Le)

acer, acris, = sharp, pointed, piercing; folium, = a leaf. (having pointy or prickly leaves;the Latin word acrifolium (turned into aquifolium in modern time)
(ld, I10)

ARACEAE (G, Eg)
Arum Family(Wf)

aron (ἄρον / αρω / αιρω) = to raise, exalt, extol, exaggerate. aron = originally from ar- = fire (refers to the bitter taste of the plant)
(LS, K3)

ARALIACEAE (La)
Ivy Family(Le)

Latinization of the French-Canadian name Aralie for the Ivy Family.
(K3)

ASPARAGACEAE (G)
Asparagus Family(Wf)

a-, = intensive (very much); sparagmos, sparasso, = a rending, tearing, mangling. (referring to the sharp spines) OR spargan, = to be full to bursting, to teem, swell, be ripe. (to swell or sprout)
(LS, Le)

ASPHODELACEAE (G)
Aloe Family(Wf)

ασϕοδελ, = (of unknown origin); asphodel. The earlier form, an adaptation of medieval Latin, was affodillus, whence daffodil. The White Asphodel or King’s Spear covers large tracts of land in Apulia, in southern Italy, where its leaves afford good nourhisment to sheep. From the genus the order has sometimes been called Aphodeliæ.
(Ox)

ASPLENIACEAE (G)
Fern Family(Le)

a-, an-, = denotes privative, negative; a-, = without, not, -less, un-; splen, = the milt, spleen. (Asplenium, = a totally confusing reference to the use of spleenwort to cure spleen and liver problems. The name originated with Pliny and Discorides)
(Ox, LS, I11)

ASTERACEAE (G)
Daisy Family(Wf)

astēr, = a star, any luminous body, meteor..
(LS)