new names

[JOSEPH E. LAFERRIERE]

I felt I needed to add an addendum to my "Keiko O'brian"
posting lest everyone think me a crackpot for naming
a plant after a botanist who will not be born for
several centuries yet.
   Berberis is a huge genus, with hundreds of names
already being coined. Hence one must be creative. Of
all the names I have created over the years, and the
one I put forward as the ideal for emulation, is the
name Hymenocallis clivorum, a member of the Amaryllidaceae
published in Novon last year. "Clivorum" is short,
descriptive, and authentically Latin. It means "of
the slopes." This is very meaningful because most other
members of the genus grow in swamps and along riverbanks.
This species grows on hillsides in a semi-arid region
of northwestern Mexico (near Alamos, Sonora). I had to
browse through a Latin dictionary for at least ten minutes
before deciding on this, but I feel it was worth the effort.
I avoided both commemorative names and the awkward
"grandipetaladentata" type of compound name.

First-of-Four

--
Dr. Joseph E. Laferriere
"Computito ergo sum ...  I link therefore I am."