Taxa Field Guide

From the Latin fruticosus = ‘bushy’

Gk. nemesion, nemeseion from nemo = to distribute, to enjoy, to pasture, to feed; or nemos = wooded pasture, glade, a grove; name used by Dioscorides for a similar plant, referring to their habitat.

Gk. ereike = to break. The name used for a heath by Theophrastus (372–287 BCE) and Pliny the Elder. The stems are brittle and break easily (Lindsay); or possibly but less likely because of the ability of the plant to break up bladder stones (Paxton’s Botanical Dictionary).

Of Canada or NE America

La. albus = white or albicans = becoming white; referring to the colouring of some Albuca flowers.

Gk. drimys = acrid, pungent; referring to the sap which is considered irritating or even toxic in many species.

Gk. trachys = rough; andros = male. The thick filaments are usually hairy.

From the Latin asper = 'rough' 

From the Latin africanus meaning "from Africa"

From the Latin glabra meaning ‘smooth’

From the Latin aethiopicus = 'Ethiopia'; pertaining frequently to Africa in general, not just Ethiopia.

For Marie Philippe Mercier (1781–1831), French botanist, plant collector and traveller. Born on the island of Martinique, he worked briefly for the military and police before making lengthy trips to the United States, Mexico, West Indies, Brazil and Chile as a trader collecting plants that he sent to Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and Stephano Moricand in Geneva. In 1822 Mercier moved to Geneva, where he studied botany under the direction of De Candolle. He died before his Choix des Plantes Exotiques Rares ou Nouvelles was completed, although an extract was published by Nicolas Seringe in his bulletin. His large herbarium of some 300 000 items containing many neotropical plants was purchased by the British naturalist Philip Barker Webb.

Gk. mono- = one, single; -opsis = resembling; referring to the appearance of the corolla for most species. Every flower looks the same.

Gk. prisma = a thin saw, hence angular; karpos = fruit. The slender inferior ovary becomes greatly elongated; the fruits are shaped like prisms.

For Willem (Wilhelm) Röell (1700–1775), Dutch professor of anatomy in Amsterdam and horticulturist. He commenced his medical studies in 1718 and graduated at the University of Leiden in 1725. In 1731, he succeeded Frederick Ruysch as praelector anatomiae. This proved to be a poor choice as he neglected his teaching duties and the quality of training was poor, thus earning the ire of the Surgeons Guilds in Delft and Amsterdam. In 1754, he became a governor of the West Indian Company and owned two plantations in British Guiana. In 1755, he was made professor of anatomy and surgery at the Amsterdam Athaeum, but resigned the same year because of ill health. He owned the mansion De Keukenhof at Lisse, where he kept a botanical collection, and donated specimens, Lithophyta (stone plants) and African seed to the Clifford collection.

Gk. meta- = meaning reverse; lasios = shaggy, woolly. The leaves are twisted, rolled upward, to present the woolly side of the leaf from the top to the bottom.

Named in honour of Johann Ursinus of Regensburg, the author of Arboretum Biblicum. Sphenogyne R.Br. is not considered separable.

From the Latin volubilis = ‘twisting’ or 'winding'; generally referring to a creeper