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Some Common Specific Epithets
In many cases, the specific epithet is the Latin word that describes some important characteristic of the plant-flower color, for example, or leaf shape. Familiarity with these Latin terms helps in understanding a plant's name and its characteristics. Some common examples are:
- alba: white
- aqua: water
- arbor: tree
- aurantiacus: orange
- bi-: two-
- californicus: from California
- campanulate: bell-shaped
- canadensis: from Canada
- caroliniana: from the Carolinas
- communis: common
- concolor: of the same color
- discolor: of another color
- ebeneus: ebony black
- eburneus: ivory white
- ellipticus: oval
- erythrinus: red
- fallax: deceptive
- filiformis: thread-shaped
- flavescens: yellowish
- floridus: abounding in flowers
- foetida: stinking
- frutescens: becoming shrubby
- funestrus: deadly
- hispida: covered with coarse, erect hairs
- inodoratus: without an odor
- laciniatus: slashed into narrow divisions
- lanceolate: with a narrow elliptic or ovate, pointed shape
- linearis: with a very narrow shape
- luteus: yellow
- magnus: great, big
- maritima: maritime, by the sea
- multi-: many-
- nigra: black
- novaeanglia: from New England
- novacaesarea: from New Jersey
- noveboracum: from New York
- ob-: reversed-
- officinalis: used in medicine
- ovatus: ovate (oval, but widest below the middle)
- pensylvanica: from Pennsylvania
- radicans: rooting, putting out aerial roots
- rubra: red
- sanguinia: blood
- tomentosa: thickly and evenly covered with short, curled, and matted hairs
- urceolate: urn-shaped
- vacillans: swinging to and fro
- velutinus: velvety
- virginiana: from Virginia
- viridis: green
- vulgaris: common