Taxacom: Proposed New Word Coined for Fruiting Time

[John Kartesz]

Proposed New Word Coined for Fruiting Time

Being in the final stages of revising the Biota of North American Program website for publication, it came to my attention that no existing botanical term exists for fruiting-time in parallel fashion as anthesis does for flowering-time.  Since the concept of fruiting-time is used by taxonomists, horticulturalists, those in the nursery trade, etc. as frequently as flowering-time to describe when a mature ovary ripens or a reproductive structure develops, it is wholly justified that such a term exists.

After scouring the botanical literature thoroughly and finding no analogous term in the botanical lexicon, I am proposing here the term frugesis (frū●gā’sis), for fruiting time; Latin fructus for fruit + Greek -ησις (-ēsis), suffix, indicating an event.  The word "fructus" is Latin for fruit. It is the root word for many words, e.g., fructose, a type of sugar derived from fruit; and frugivorous and frugivore, referring to fruit-eating, which most ornithologists and mammalogists will be familiar.  BONAP will be using this term in our forthcoming revision.
-JTK
Dr. John Kartesz, Director
BONAP