• e-: without
• eastwood'iae/east'woodiae: after Alice Eastwood (1859-1953), botanical curator for the California Academy of Sciences, who in a damaged building saved 1,500 priceless type specimens representing 53 years of collecting after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Born in Canada, her interest in flowers was initiated by her country doctor uncle, and she later taught herself botany and became a respected collector while teaching in Colorado, where more than a dozen native plants bear her name. She joined Katherine Brandegee in 1892 as joint Curator of Botany for the California Academy of Sciences, succeeding her in 1894, and remained in that post for fifty-five years until she retired at the age of 90.  In the 1930s and 1940s she spent a great deal of time collecting with her assistant John Thomas Howell, himself a recognized botanist who succeeded her as Curator.  She was honored by Townsend Brandegee who named a new genus after her, Eastwoodia, after she came upon a new sunflower on one of her trips. (ref. Amsinckia eastwoodiae)
• Eatonel'la: after American botanist Daniel Cady Eaton (1834-1895). "Daniel Cady Eaton pursued graduate studies under Asa Gray and, at Yale, his alma mater, became one of America's first professors of botany [and Curator of the Yale Herbarium for 31 years]. His library and personal plant collection serve as the nucleus of the Peabody Museum's Herbarium. Eaton's botanical interets led him to Utah in the 1860s, and he contributed to the botany of the United States-Mexican Boundary Survey, Clarence King's Geological Exploration of the 40th Parallel , George Wheeler's Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundreth Meridian, and the Geological Survey of California." His special area of interest was ferns, and he produced the 2-volume Ferns of North America (ref. genus Eatonella)
• eat'onii/eaton'ii: see Eatonella above (ref. Penstemon eatonii)
• eborispi'na: from the Latin ebur or eboris, "ivory," and spina or spinula, "thorn, spine." Hester described this taxon as having marginal spines that are usually ivory in color and a terminal spine that is "brown in youth, ivory in age" (ref. Agave utahensis var. eborispina)
• ebractea'ta: without bracts (ref. Gratiola ebracteata)
• echina'ta/echina'tus: covered with prickles like a hedgehog (ref. Carex echinata, Cenchrus echinatus, Cynosurus echinatus)
• echinel'la: from echinos, "hedgehog or spine," and -ella, a suffix denoting small size (ref. Cryptantha echinella)
• Echinocac'tus: from echinos, "hedgehog or spine," and cactus (ref. genus Echinocactus)
• echinocar'pa: literally "hedgehog-fruited," thus bearing prickly fruits (ref. Opuntia echinocarpa)
• Echinocer'eus: from the Greek echinos, "hedgehog or spine," and cereus, "waxy" (ref. genus Echinocereus)
• Echinochlo'a: from the Greek echinos for "hedgehog" or "sea-urchin," and chloe or chloa, "grass," referring to the spikelets which are bristly (ref. genus Echinochloa)
• Echinodor'us: from the Greek echinos, "a hedgehog," and doros, "a bag or leather bottle," referring to the spiny achenes (ref. genus Echinodorus)
• echino'ides: having the appearance of a hedgehog or spiny, of uncertain application (ref. Lithocarpus densiflorus var. echinoides)
• Echinomas'tus: from the Greek echinos, "a hedgehog," and masto or mastos, "a breast" (ref. genus Echinomastus)
• Ech'inops: from the Greek echinos, "a hedgehog or sea-urchin," and ops, a suffix intended to indicate resemblance or appearance (ref. genus Echinops)
• echinosper'mum: with spiny seeds
• echinospor'a: with spiny spores or seeds
• echinula'ta: with very small prickles or spines (ref. Paronychia echinulata)
  
• echio'ides: like the genus Echium, common name Viper's bugloss (ref. Heterotheca sessiliflora ssp. echioides, Picris echioides)
• Ech'ium: from the Greek echis, "a viper," the nutlets appearing to represent a viper's head (ref. genus Echium)
• ecklon'is: after Dr. Christian Friedrich Ecklon (1795-1868), described alternatively as a German botanist or a Danish botanical collector and apothecary. I think the discrepancy about his nationality arises from the fact that he was born in Apenrade which was in a Danish region perhaps under the control of or actually part of Schleswig-Holstein. He moved to South Africa in 1823 as first an apothecary's apprentice and then pharmacist and collected plants from 1823 to 1833, returning to Europe in 1828 with vast amounts of collected material which were distributed to German and Danish botanists. During part of this time he worked with Karl Ludwig Philipp Zeyher with whom he published a catalogue of South African plants (1835-7). From 1833 to 1838 he was in Hamburg working on revising his collection, later returning to South Africa where he eventually died. The genus Ecklonea was named in his honor (ref. Osteospermum ecklonis)
• Eclip'ta: from the Greek ekleipo meaning "deficient," and referring to the absence of a pappus (ref. genus Eclipta)
• eden'tula: without teeth (ref. Cakile edentula)
• ed'mundsii: after Louis Lake Edmunds (1882-1963), educated at Amherst College and Cornell, from 1905 to 1908 worked as mechanical and mining engineer in New York City, Arizona, Utah and Mexico, was foreman and mechanical engineer with American Beet Sugar Co. in Oxnard from 1908 to 1911, consultant to Hawaiian Sugar Planters Assoc., 1911-1912, assistant superintendent for American Beet Sugar at Chino 1912-1916, chief engineer C&H Sugar through 1925, and later a native plant nurseryman (ref. Arctostaphylos edmundsii)
• ed'ulis: edible, referring in the case of the iceplant to the fruit which is eaten in South Africa (ref. Carpobrotus edulis, Dudleya edulis, Pinus edulis)
• effu'sa/effu'sus: Stearn's Dictionary says "loosely spreading, straggling, spread out" (ref. Ipomopsis effusa, Juncus effusus var. pacificus)
• egen'a: poor, needy, indigent, of unknown application (ref. Phacelia egena)
• Eger'ia: "After Egeria, a spirit of a stream, a nymph or Camoena celebrated in Roman mythology, the lover and adviser of Numa, the 2nd king of Rome." (from Umberto Quattrocchi's Dictionary of Plant Names). The following is quoted from Wikipedia: "Egeria gave wisdom and prophecy in return for simple libations of water or milk at her sacred grove, near where the Baths of Caracalla were erected in the 3rd century. The name Egeria may derive from "of the black poplar". Egeria was associated by Romans with Diana, and women in childbirth called for her aid, so she appears to have presided over childbirth as well, like the Greek goddess Ilithyia. Egeria was later categorized by the Romans as one of the Camenae, minor deities who were equated with the Greek Muses as Rome fell under the cultural hegemony of Greece; so Dionysius of Halicarnassus listed Egeria among the Muses. Egeria may predate Roman myth: she could have been of Etruscan origin, because she was a nymph consort to the Sabine Numa Pompilius, second king of Rome. Roman legend reports that Numa met her in her sacred grove, where she taught him to be a wise and just king (Livy i. 19). When Numa Pompilius died, Egeria changed into a well [or fountain] (Ovid, Metamorphoses xv. 479). Besides the grove close by Rome, at Porta Capena, another one sacred to Egeria was located in the sacred forest of Aricia in Latium, the grove of Diana Nemorensis ("Diana of Nemi"). The ancient nympheum of Egeria survives in the Parco della Caffarella between the Appian Way and the even more ancient Via Latina, and was a favored picnic spot for 19th century Romans. In the 2nd century, when Herodes Atticus recast an inherited villa nearby as a great landscaped estate the natural grotto was formalized as an arched interior with an apsidal end where a statue of Egeria once stood in a niche; the surfaces were enriched with revetments of green and white marble facings and green porphyry flooring and friezes of mosaic. The primeval spring, one of dozens of springs that flow into the river Almone, was made to feed large pools one of which was known as Lacus Salutaris, the "Lake of Health". (ref. genus Egeria)
• eglanter'ia: from the New Latin eglanterius, "like the briar-rose" (ref. Rosa eglanteria)
• Ehrendorfer'ia/Ehrendorferi'a: named for Austrian botanist Friedrich Ehrendorfer (1927- ), professor in the Department of Higher Plant Systematics and Evolution at the University of Vienna, widely recognized for his work on the evolution of insular floras, chromosome evolution, and the adaptive significance of major taxonomic characters. Prof. Ehrendorfer influenced generations of students and colleagues through his enthusiasm and broad knowledge of plants, as well as his service as Director of the Institute of Botany and of the Botanical Garden, University of Vienna, and as Editor of Plant Systematics and Evolution (ref. genus Ehrendorferia)
• Ehrhar'ta: after Jacob Friedrich Ehrhart (1742-1795), German botanist and student of Linnaeus. A website of the Moscow State University herbarium offers the following information: "Important collections of this outstanding German botanists are kept at the Herbarium of Moscow University. Jacob Friedrich Ehrhart was a pupil and friend of Linnaeus, and a friend of Carl Linnaeus filius (1741-1783), who was the same age as Ehrhart. Born in Switzerland, by 1765 Ehrhart was studying pharmacy in Nurnberg. After some years in Erlangen (Germany), where he began collecting plants for his herbarium, Ehrhart moved to Uppsala University. During three years there (1773-1775), Ehrhart studied botany and collected plants under the guidance of Linnaeus. After 1775 he returned to Germany and worked in Hannover. Ehrhart was one of the first botanists to publish plant exsiccatae (i.e. prepared collections, in several or many sets, of precisely identified and named dried plants with printed labels, to be distributed between various botanists and/or institutions). Starting in 1780, he published seven series of exsiccatae comprising about 1620 plant species. Five of the seven of Ehrhart's series (ser. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7) are kept now in the Herbarium of Moscow University (with a few specimens missing). The exsiccatae contain type material for a number of Ehrhart's names. Many specimens were collected in the vicinity of Uppsala and in the Uppsala Botanic Garden and perhaps were compared with specimens now in the Linnaean collections or perhaps even examined by Linnaeus himself. The herbarium of Moscow University possesses also Ehrhart's General Collection ("Hortus siccus") which contains material of about 3300 plant species and came from four different sources. Hoffmann (1824) published a catalogue of Ehrhart's General Collection in which he introduced a numbering system following Murray's edition of  "Systema Vegetabilium" (Linnaeus 1774). It is important to note that numbers were attributed to species, not to particular herbarium sheets. The numbering is discontinuous because a number of species included in "Systema Vegetabilium" are absent from Ehrhart's collection. The Ehrhart herbarium contains several specimens received (directly or indirectly) from his famous teacher, C. Linnaeus. High quality digital images of these specimens are included in the CD-ROM which will be published soon. Ehrhart was commemorated in the genera Ehrharta Thunb. (1779, nom. cons.; Poaceae) and Ehrhartia Wiggers (1780, = Leersia Sw.; Poaceae) and in 10 species." (ref. genus Ehrharta)
• Eichhorn'ia: after Johann Albrecht Friedrich Eichhorn (1779-1856), Prussian Minister of Education and Public Welfare, court advisor and politician (ref. genus Eichhornia)
• eis'enii: after Swedish zoologist and archeologist Gustav August Eisen (1847-1940), emigrated to Southern California in 1873 and became a member of the California Academy of Sciences (ref. Bacopa eisenii, Phacelia eisenii)
• elaeaginifo'lium: with leaves like those of Elaeagnus, the Russian olive (ref. Solanum elaeaginifolium)
• elaeagnifo'lium: with leaves like genus Elaeagnus (ref. Solanum elaeagnifolium)
• Elaeag'nus: from the Greek elais, "olive," and agnos, "the chaste-tree" (ref. genus Elaeagnus)
• ela'ta/ela'tum/ela'tus: tall (ref. Boykinia elata, Glyceria elata, Horkelia elata, Oenothera elata ssp. hirsutissima, Oenothera elata ssp. hookeri, Stanleya elata, Eriogonum elatum, Lupinus elatus)
• Elat'ine/elat'ine: an ancient Greek name for some low creeping plant (?). My esteemed friend Umberto Quattrocchi says of the origins of this name: "From elatine (elate 'the pine, the fir, ship, Abies,' elatinos 'of the pine or fir, of pine or fir-wood'), ancient Greek name used by Dioscorides and Plinius perhaps for Linaria spuria, the cankerwort..." Linaria is a similar appearing plant in the same family that like Kickxia has a long spur, and one of the common names of Kickxia elatine is sharpleaf cancerwort (ref. genus Elatine, also Kickxia elatine)
• elat'ior: taller (ref. Psilocarphus elatior)
• elat'ius: taller, loftier, more exalted (ref. Arrhenatherum elatius)
• el'egans: elegant (ref. Atriplex elegans, Brodiaea elegans, Heuchera elegans, Madia elegans ssp. elegans, Madia elegans ssp. wheeleri, Microseris elegans, Piperia [formerly Habenaria] elegans)
• elegantis'sima: very elegant (ref. Aira elegantissima)
• elegant'ulus: elegant
• Eleo'charis: from the Greek heleos or helos, "a marsh, low ground, meadow," and charis, "grace, beauty," hence "marsh grace," alluding to a flooded field habitat (ref. genus Eleocharis, also Carex eleocharis)
• Eleu'sine: from Umberto Quattrocchi's World Dictionary of Plant Names: "From Eleusis, a very ancient city and deme (a township or division, a commune) of Attica, famous for the mysteries of Ceres, about 14 miles northwest of Athens; to the west of the town lay the Rharian, where Demeter, the Greek goddess of earth's fruits, was said to have sown the first seeds of corn; Demeter (Ceres for the Romans) was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and sister of Zeus, by whom she became the mother of Persephone." (ref. genus Eleusine)
• eliassonia'na: after Swedish botanist Uno H. Eliasson (1939), professor and Director of the Botanical Museum at the University of Gotenborg who worked on the Amaranthaceae on the Galapagos and Hawaiian Islands, and also worked on tree canopy diversity and myxomycetes (slime molds) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (ref. Tidestromia lanuginosa ssp. eliassoniana)
• -ella/-ellus: a Latin adjectival suffix indicating diminutive stature (e.g. rubellus, "reddish," from ruber, "red"; tenellus, "tender, delicate," from tener, "tender, soft"; tomentellus, "slightly tomentose," from tomentum, "a cushioning or stuffing of wool or hair")
• elliottia'na: after banker, legislator, and botanist Stephen Elliott (1771-1830). The following is quoted from a website of the Harvard University Herbaria: "Stephen Elliott was born on Nov. 11, 1771, in Beaufort, South Carolina, the third son of William Elliott, a merchant. His father died when Stephen was a boy, and his older brother is said to have taken charge of his education. He was sent to New Haven, Connecticut in December, 1787, to be tutored by Judge Simeon Baldwin and entered Yale in February, 1788. Elliot received his B.A. from Yale in 1791, with valedictorian honors. His English oration was on "The Supposed Degeneracy of Animated Nature in America" (Ewan xxvii). Elliott then returned to South Carolina and became a planter. He was elected to the South Carolina legislature in 1793 or 1796 (sources disagree) and served until about 1800. In 1796 he married Esther Habersham, with whom he had a large family. From 1800-1808 he seems to have devoted himself to his plantation and to tbe study of natural history. In 1808 he was re-elected to the legislature, where he was active in promoting the establishment of a state bank. When the bank was established in 1812, he ceased legislative work and was appointed President of the "Bank of the State" and moved to Charleston. He remained president of the bank until his death. In Charleston, Elliott was involved in a number of scientific and cultural concerns. He was active in the founding of the Literary and Philosophical Society of South Carolina and served as its president from 1814-1830; he was president of the Charleston Library Society; and he co-founded the Southern Review with Hugh Swinton Legaré in 1828. In 1820 he was elected president of South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina); most accounts say he declined the post, but one version says he declined after serving for a while. He was an early and active campaigner for the establishment of the Medical College of South Carolina, where he taught natural history and botany from 1824 until his death. Elliott carried on an active correspondence with Henry Muhlenberg and other people interested in botany and natural history. He published A Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgia from 1816 to 1824 and thereby established himself as a major figure in the history of American botany. He received Honorary Doctor of Law degrees from Yale University (1819), Harvard University (1822) and Columbia University (1825) . Elliott has been memorialized in a number of ways. The Elliott College building on the University of South Carolina campus was named for him, and 1853 the Elliott Society of Charleston was founded. In 1933 a monument was erected over Elliott's unmarked grave in St. Paul's churchyard, Charleston. Elliott is remembered also 'in a genus of plants of the Heath family. Elliott died 'of Apoplexy' (most likely a stroke) in Charleston on March 28, 1830" (ref. Agrostis elliottiana)
• ellip'tica/ellip'ticum/ellip'ticus: elliptical, about twice as long as wide (ref. Garrya elliptica, Viburnum ellipticum, Ranunculus glaberrimus var. ellipticus)
• el'meri: after Adolph Daniel Edward (A.D.E.) Elmer (1870-1942), who collected along the coast of the Santa Barbara region in 1902 and also in Lockwood Valley. He also travelled and collected in Malaysia, the Philippines and New Guinea (ref. Amsinckia elmeri, Eschscholzia elmeri, Festuca elmeri, Monardella elmeri, Stipa elmeri)
• el'meri: after Elmer Reginald Drew (1865-1930), a physics professor at Stanford from 1905 until his death (ref. Aster elmeri, Astragalus gambelianus var. elmeri, Erigeron elmeri, Lupinus elmeri, Sisyrinchium elmeri)
• Elo'dea: from the Greek helos, "marsh," or helodes, "marshy," relating to the habitat (ref. genus Elodea)
• elonga'ta/elonga'tum/elonga'tus: elongated, lengthened (ref. Androsace elongata, Deschampsia elongata, Piperia elongata, Plantago elongata, Eriogonum elongatum, Polypogon elongatus)
• elymo'ides: like genus Elymus (ref. Elymus elymoides ssp. brevifolius, Elymus elymoides ssp. californicus)
• El'ymus: from the Greek name elymos for "millet," in turn from elyo, "to cover" (ref. genus Elymus)
• Elytrig'ia: either from the Greek elytron for "sheath or cover," or a combination of the generic names Elymus and Triticum (ref. genus Elytrigia)
• emargina'ta: with a shallow notch at the end (ref. Oxytheca emarginata, Prunus emarginata)
• emer'sum: from the Latin emersus, "coming forth, emerging" and referring to this taxon's habit of growing in water (ref. Polygonum amphibium var. emersum, Sparganium emersum)
• Em'ex: from the Latin ex, "out of," and Rumex, having been transferred from that genus (ref. genus Emex)
• Emmenan'the: from the Greek emmeno, "to abide," and anthos, "flower," and thus "the flower that abides," alluding to the fact that the blossom does not fall as it fades (ref. genus Emmenanthe)
• em'oryi/emor'yi: after Maj. William Hemsley Emory (1811-1887), Army officer and Director of the Mexican Boundary Survey. He was born in Maryland of wealthy and socially prominent parents, the inheritor of an aristocratic tradition of soldiers, his grandfather having fought during the Revolution and his father during the War of 1812. As a boy, he was close friends with such future notables as President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston and Senator, Speaker of the House and presidential candidate Henry Clay. In 1823, with the help of John C. Calhoun, a close friend and business colleague of his father, he received assurances of an appointment to West Point, entering the school in 1827 and graduating in 1831. He served at a number of different posts during the next five years culminating with his involvement in the removal of the Creek Indian nation from Georgia to the Indian Territory. In 1836 the Secretary of War invited him to become an assistant United States civil engineer and he resigned his Army commission. When the Corps of Topographical Engineers was established in 1838 directly under the Secretary of War, Emory was one of those who were recruited by Col. John J. Abert, Chief of the Topographic Bureau of the Army, and he returned to service and was recommissioned as a 1st Lieutenant. That was a notable year also because he married Matilda Wilkins Bache of Philadelphia, the great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin. He worked on a variety of projects, then in 1843 was made an assistant in the Topographic Bureau in Washington. He conducted boundary surveys along the Texas-Mexican border in 1844, producing a new map of Texas. From 1844 to 1846 he was part of the Northeastern boundary survey assigned the difficult task of surveying the border between the U.S. and Canada, a job which won him acclaim and respect, and enhanced his reputation as a skillfull and meticulous surveyor. He served during the Mexican War (1846-1848) as chief topographical engineer first on the staff of General Stephen Kearny, and then as second-in-command of a regiment of Maryland volunteers. From 1848 to 1853 he conducted a boundary survey along the United States-Mexican border, and then surveyed the Gadsden Purchase from 1854 to 1857. He was an excellent cartogropher and the accuracy of many of his maps rendered previous ones obsolete. He was a brigade, division and Corps commander during the Civil War, rising to the eventual rank of Major-General, and performed competently yet without great distinction. He held mostly administrative and Department command positions after the war, and retired in 1876. His marriage produced 10 children and he died in 1887.  [Information mostly from The Handbook of Texas Online by the Texas State Historical Association and from the University of Arizona Press] (ref. Baccharis emoryi, Bergerocactus emoryi, Castela emoryi, Hyptis emoryi, Perityle emoryi, Psorothamnus [formerly Dalea] emoryi, Sphaeralcea emoryi)
• empetrifor'mis: having the form of genus Empetrum (ref. Phyllodoce empetriformis)
• Empe'trum: from the Greek empetros or empetron, "growing on rocks" (ref. genus Empetrum)
• Ence'lia: named for Christoph Entzelt (1517-1583), German naturalist, an early Lutheran clergyman who Latinized his name to Encelius and published a book called De Re Metallica in 1551 about mineralogy and metallurgy, and also wrote about the medicinal uses of animal parts and plants (ref. genus Encelia)
• encelio'ides: like Encelia (ref. Verbesina encelioides)
• Enceliop'sis: from genus Encelia and -opsis, "likeness to" (ref. genus Enceliopsis)
• endi'va: endive (ref. Cichorium endiva)
• Ene'mion: "Enemion is thought to refer to the Greek term anemos, which means wind..." according to the website Cosewic (Comittee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) Assessment and Update Status Report on the False Rue-Anemone. I find it curious that the common name, false rue-anemone, relates to the actual rue-anemone, which is genus Thalictrum or Anemonella species thalictroides which certainly derives its name from anemos and one of whose common names is windflower. Enemion is a closely related member of the same family, Ranunculaceae, and is almost an anagram of 'anemone.' However, Rafinesque explained this name as having to do with the species Anenome quinquefolia (wood anenome, also in the Ranunculaceae) because of the size and similarity of the flowers (ref. genus Enemion)
• engelmann'ii: after Georg(e) Engelmann (1809-1884), a German-born St. Louis physician and botanist, and prolific author on cacti, North American conifers and oaks.  Like many other famous botanical explorers and collectors, he began his career in medicine, but soon was spending more time with his plants.  He became a conduit between plant collectors in the West and professors John Torrey (see torreyana) and Asa Gray (see Grayia) in the East.  He sent out fellow Germans like Augustus Fendler (see fendleri) to explore little known western regions, supplying them with collecting materials and money.  John C. Fremont (see fremontii) visited him to learn about plant collecting before embarking on his western explorations.  He botanized with Charles Parry (see parryi) in Colorado and with Asa Gray in Virginia.  His association with the Englishman Henry Shaw, who resided in St. Louis and dreamed of building a Kew Gardens in the New World, resulted in Shaw's Garden, now world famous as the Missouri Botanical Garden (ref. Echinocereus engelmannii, Quercus engelmannii)
• Enneapo'gon: from the Greek ennea, "nine," and pogon, "a beard," referring to the nine plumose awns (ref. genus Enneapogon)
• -ens: becoming, slightly
• -ense: see -ensis below
• ensifo'lia/ensifo'lius: with sword-shaped leaves (ref. Juncus ensifolius)
• -ensis: a Latin adjectival suffix used to indicate country of origin, place of growth or habitat (e.g. chilensis, "from Chile"; pratensis, "growing in meadows," from pratum, "meadow"; mohavensis, "from the Mojave"; arvensis, "growing in fields," from arvum, "field"; canadensis, "from Canada", etc.)
• epapil'losa: without papillae (ref. Carex heteroneura var. epapillosa)
• Ephed'ra: from Greek name ephedra used by Pliny for the common mare's tail (Hipparus) which it somewhat resembles (ref. genus Ephedra)
• ephem'erum: short-lived
• epi-: upon, on, over
• epihy'drus: from epi, "upon, on," and hydr, "water," referring to the floating leaves (ref. Potamogeton epihydrus)
• ep'ilis: lacking hair (ref. Poa cusickii ssp. epilis)
• epilobio'ides: like genus Epilobium (ref. Clarkia epilobioides)
• Epilo'bium: from 2 Greek words epi, "upon," and lobos, "a pod or capsule," as the flower and capsule appear together, the corolla being borne on the end of the ovary (ref. genus Epilobium)
• Epipac'tis: either from the Greek epipaktis or epipegnuo, the name adopted for this genus which was originally called hellebore, and which refers to a milk-curdling property claimed for some species (ref. genus Epipactis)
• episcopa'lis: of or relating to bishops, resembling a bishop's mitre (ref. Calystegia subacaulis ssp. episcopalis)
• Equise'tum: Latin for "horsetail" from equus, "horse," and seta, "bristle" (ref. genus Equisetum)
• eq'uitans: having to do with riding (ref. Convolvulus equitans)
• eragros'tis: the common explanation of this name is that it derives from the Greek eros, "love," and agrostis, "grass," of unknown application but giving the genus its common name of "lovegrass." However, according to Umberto Quattrocchi, others have suggested that it actually derives from the Greek era, "earth." Buttressing this argument, Jaeger's Source-Book of Biological Names and Terms specifically gives Eragrostis as an example for the meaning of era as "earth or field," which makes much more sense since many of the species of this genus especially the 90 or so from southern Africa are habitants of pastures and fields. It's possible therefore that the name "lovegrass" is a misnomer (ref. genus Eragrostis and Cyperus eragrostis)
• Erechti'tes: possibly from the Greek erechtho, "to rend or break," referring to the dissected leaves, or to Erechtheus, a fabled king of Athens (ref. genus Erechtites)
• erec'ta/erec'tum: upright (ref. Berula erecta, Boerhavia erecta, Crassula erecta, Ehrharta erecta, Krameria erecta, Plantago erecta, Tagates erecta, Torreyochloa erecta, Sparganium erectum)
• erecticau'lis: with an erect stem (ref. Atriplex erecticaulis)
• Eremal'che: from the Greek for lonely mallow, from its desert habitats (ref. genus Eremalche)
• eremico'la: from eremi meaning "lonely or solitary", and cola meaning "-loving or inhabitant of" (ref. Eriogonum eremicola, Sphaeralcea rusbyi var. eremicola)
• erem'icum: of the desert, lonely (ref. Eriastrum eremicum, Galium stellatum var. eremicum)
• Eremocar'pus: from two Greek words for "solitary fruit," eremos, "lonely," and karpos, "fruit," describing the solitary carpel of the pistillate flower (ref. genus Eremocarpus)
• Eremo'gone: from eremos, "lonely, solitary, deserted" and gone or gonos, "seed or offspring" (ref. genus Eremogone)
  
• eremo'phila: desert-loving (ref. Mentzelia eremophila, Prunus eremophila, Selaginella eremophila)
• eremosta'chya: from eremos, "lonely," and stachys, "an ear of corn or other grain," and thus meaning "bearing a single spike" (ref. Salvia eremostachya)
• eri-, erio-: prefix indicating woolliness
• erian'tha/erian'thus: woolly-flowered (ref. Euphorbia eriantha, Triphysaria eriantha, Orthocarpus erianthus)
• Erias'trum: from the Greek erion, "wool," and astrum, "star," meaning that the plants are "woolly with starlike flowers" (ref. genus Eriastrum)
• Er'ica: a Latin name for heath (ref. genus Erica and family Ericaceae)
• Ericamer'ia: from the Greek Erica (Ereika), "heath," and meris or meros for "division or part," referring to the heath-like leaves (ref. genus Ericameria)
• ericifo'lium: with leaves like genus Erica (ref. Eriogonum ericifolium)
• erico'ides: resembling Erica or heath (ref. Chaetopappa ericoides, Ericameria [formerly Haplopappus] ericoides)
• Erig'eron: from the Greek eri, "early," and geron, "old man," thus meaning "old man in the spring," referring to the fluffy, white seed heads and the early flowering and fruiting of many species (ref. genus Erigeron)
• erina'cea: resembling a hedgehog (ref. Opuntia erinacea)
• Eriobot'rya: from the Greek erion, "wool," and botrys, "cluster, a bunch of grapes," alluding to the clustered and woolly panicles (ref. genus Eriobotrya)
• eriocar'pa: woolly-fruited (ref. Asclepias eriocarpa)
• eriocen'tra: from the Greek words for "woolly" and "center, a point, spur" (ref. Ambrosia eriocentra)
• erioceph'ala/erioceph'alum: woolly-headed (ref. Salix eriocephala, Trifolium eriocephalum)
• Eriochlo'a: from the Greek erion, "wool," and chloe or chloa, "grass," thus "woolly grass" (ref. genus Eriochloa)
• Eriodic'tyon: derived from the Greek erion, "wool," and diktuon, "net," and referring to the appearance of the underside of the leaves (ref. genus Eriodictyon)
• Erio'gonum: from the Greek erion, "wool," and gonu, "joint or knee," in reference to the hairy or woolly joints of some of the species of the genus (ref. genus Eriogonum)
• Erioneur'on: from the Greek erion, "wool," and neuron, nerve, thus meaning "woolly-nerved" from the lemma and palea hairs (ref. genus Erioneuron)
• Eriophor'um: wool-bearing (ref. genus Eriophorum)
• eriophyl'la: from the Greek erion, "wool," and phyllon, "leaf," referring to the matted white hairs that cover the plant when young (ref. Calliandra eriophylla)
• Eriophyl'lum: see eriophylla above (ref. genus Eriophyllum)
• eriopo'da/eriopo'dus: woolly-footed (ref. Bouteloua eriopoda)
• eriosper'mum: woolly-fruited (ref. Gayophytum eriospermum)
• eriosta'chyus: from the Greek erion, 'wool," and stachys, "an ear of corn," of unknown application (ref. Lupinus pratensis var. eriostachyus)
• Ero'dium: from the Greek erodios, "a heron," due to the long beak on the fruit that gives rise to some of its common names such as storksbill and cranesbill, a meaning reinforced by the family name Geranium, the derivation of which is geranos, "crane"  (ref. genus Erodium)
• ero'sa: jagged or bitten off at the edges, as if irregularly gnawed, referring to the ruffled, saw-edged leaf margins (ref. Asclepias erosa)
• erostra'ta: without a beak (ref. Carex filifolia var. erostrata)
• ert'terae: after Barbara Jean Ertter, the highly-respected botanist and plant collector of the University of California at Berkeley (1953- ) (ref. Astragalus ertterae)
• erubes'cens: becoming red, blushing, referring to the color of the flowers (ref. Eriogonum ursinum var. erubescens)
• Er'uca: a classical Latin name used by Pliny (ref. genus Eruca)
• Erucas'trum: resembling genus Eruca ) ref. genus Erucastrum)
• Eryn'gium: ancient Greek name used either by Theophrastus or Dioscorides (ref. genus Eryngium)
• erysimo'ides: like genus Erysimum (ref. Sisymbrium erysimoides)
• Erys'imum: from the Greek eryomai, "to help or save," because some of the species supposedly had a medicinal value (ref. genus Erysimum)
• erythrae'a: from the Greek erythros, "red, reddish" for the corolla lobes (ref. Centaurium erythraea)
• Erythron'ium: from an ancient Greek plant name erythronion, from erythros, "red," and deriving presumably from the reddish color of the leaves and flowers of some species (ref. genus Erythronium)
• erythrorhi'zos: with red roots (ref. Cyperus erythrorhizos)
• Escallon'ia: named for Antonio Escallón y Flórez (1739-1819), student and botanical associate and friend of Spanish botanist Jóse Celastino Mutís in Columbia. He was from Spain and travelled and collected plants in South America. He may have also been a doctor and settled in New Granada (ref. genus Escallonia)
• -escens: like -ascens, a Latin adjectival suffix used to impart the sense of a process of becoming or developing (e.g. rubescens, "reddish or becoming red," from ruber, "red"; senescens, "aging or becoming aged," from senex, "old"; canescens, "becoming gray"; frutescens, "becoming shrubby", etc.)
• eschscholtz'ii: see Eschscholzia below (ref. Ranunculus eschscholtzii)
• Eschscholz'ia: named after Dr. Johann Friedrich Gustav von Eschscholtz (1793-1831), a Latvian or Estonian surgeon, entomologist and botanist who came with the Russian expeditions to the Pacific coast in 1816 and 1824.  On their first visit to the San Francisco region in the Russian scientific ship Rurik, his name was put on the previously undescribed California poppy by his friend and companion Adelbert von Chamisso (see chamissonis), who found it in the hills surrounding the bay, and subsequently on dozens of other newly discovered flowers.  Later he returned the favor by naming a lupine after his friend, Lupinus chamissonis. Sometimes his name is listed as Eschscholtz and sometimes as Escholtz. According to Curtis Clark at Cal Poly Pomona and others, his name was originally spelled Escholtz in German, but when it was transliterated into the Cyrillic alphabet by relatives of his who spent time in Russia, it became Eshcholts which had an 'sh' and a 'ch' sound both of which were expressed by the same Russian letter, and thus when converted back to German the 'sh' and 'ch' became 'sch' twice and the name became Eschscholzia. The 't' was dropped because Chamisso Latinized the name as Eschscholzius. In those days spelling was not the more rigid system in use today, and even Chamisso in different places gave the name as Eschscholzia, Eschscholtzia and Eschholzia. Chamisso though he lived in Berlin and spoke German with Eschscholtz was originally French. Eschscholtz studied medicine at the University of Dorpat (also called the University of Tartu) in Estonia where he was born and which was at the time a German-speaking territory, and later became a professor of anatomy there. On the scientific expedition he collected specimens in Brazil, Chile and the Pacific Islands as well as California. Bikini Atoll in the Pacific was originally named Eschscholtz Atoll and was renamed in 1946. Eschscholtz was only 37 when he died in Dorpat (ref. genus Eschscholzia)
• eschscholzia'num: see previous entry (ref. Veratrum viride var. eschscholzianum)
• Escobar'ia: after Numa Pompilio Escobar Zerman (1874-1949) and Romulo Escobar Zerman (1882-1946) of Mexico, both of whom studied as agricultural engineers at the National School of Agriculture, San Jacinto, and then founded the Private School of Agriculture in Ciudad Juarez in 1906. In 1963 the Private School of Agriculture was incorporated into the University of Chihauhau as the Brothers Escobar College of Agriculture and operated until 1993 (ref. genus Escobaria)
• esculen'tum/esculen'tus: esculent, edible (ref. Fagopyrum esculentum, Lycopersicon esculentum, Cyperus esculentus)
• esmeralden'se: after Esmeralda County, Nevada. This taxon was first collected on Miller Mountain, then located in Esmeralda County, (collected 1888, described 1889), now mostly in Mineral County which split off in 1911 (ref. Eriogonum esmeraldense)
• esoter'icum: from the Greek esoterikos, "arising within, esoteric" (ref. Polygonum polygaloides ssp. esotericum)
• -ester: see -estre/-estris below
• estero'a: I have been unable to determine the meaning or derivation of this word, but the two possibilities that come to mind are that it has something to do with estuaries, or more likely it has to do with ester, an alkyl salt (ref. Suaeda esteroa)
• -estre/-estris: a Latin adjectival suffix that signifies "belonging to," "loving," or "living in" (e.g. alpestris, "of the mountains"; rupestris, "rock-loving", from rupis, "a rock"; sylvestris, "of the woods," from sylva, "a wood")
• es'ula: the Dave's Garden Botanary website explains this as a "Latinized form of a Celtic name meaning sharp, referring to the acrid juice" and derives from the word esu, "sharp, biting," referring to the sap (ref. Euphorbia esula)
• -etum: a Latin substantival suffix indicating a collective place of growth (e.g. quercetum, "oak woods," from quercus, "oak") Not to be confused with the root -setum, "bristle," as used in Pennisetum and Equisetum
• eu-: good, well
• Eucalyp'tus: from the Greek eu, "good or well," and kalyptos, "covered, referring to the calyx which forms a lid over the flowers when in bud (ref. genus Eucalyptus)
• Euceph'alus: from the Greek eu, "good, normal," and kephale, "head" (ref. genus Eucephalus)
• Euchi'ton: from the Greek eu, "good, well," and chiton, "a tunic or covering" (ref. genus Euchiton)
• Euclid'ium: from the Greek eu, "well," and kleis or kleidos, "a lock or key," thus "well locked" or "tightly closed," referring to the indehiscent fruit (ref. genus Euclidium)
• Euc'nide: from the Greek eu, "good or pretty," and knide, "stinging nettle," thus being a strongly nettle-like plant (ref. genus Eucnide)
• Eucryp'ta: from the Greek eu, "well or true," and crypta, "secret," alluding to the hidden inner seeds (ref. genus Eucrypta)
• -eum/eus: either (1) a Greek adjectival suffix usually indicating a state of possession or belonging to (e.g. niveum/niveus, "of or in snow"; jacinteus, "of the San Jacinto Mts"; cylindraceus, "possessed of a cylindrical shape") or (2) a Latin adjectival suffix used to impart the characteristics of material or color or resemblance in quality (e.g. purpureus, "purple," from purpura, "a mollusc which yields a purple dye"; cereus, "waxy," from cera, "wax"; argyraeus, "silvery," from argyros, "silver", etc.)
• Euon'ymus: from the Greek eu, "good," and onoma, "a name" (ref. genus Euonymus)
• Eupator'ium: from the Greek name Mithridates Eupator, King of Pontus about 115BC who is said to have discovered an antidote to a commonly used poison in one of the species (ref. genus Eupatorium)
• Euphor'bia: named for Euphorbus, Greek physician of Juba II, King of Mauretania.  Juba was educated in Rome and married the daughter of Antony and Cleopatra.  He was apparently interested in botany and had written about an African cactus-like plant he had found or which he knew about from the slopes of Mt. Atlas which was used as a powerful laxative.  That plant may have been Euphorbia resinifera, and like all Euphorbias had a latexy exudate. Euphorbus had a brother named Antonius Musa who was the physician to Augustus Caesar in Rome.  When Juba heard that Caesar had honored his physician with a statue, he decided to honor his own physician by naming the plant he had written about after him. The word Euphorbus derives from eu, "good," and phorbe, "pasture or fodder," thus giving euphorbos the meaning "well fed." Some sources suggest that Juba was amused by the play upon words and chose his physician's name for the plant because of its succulent nature and because of Euphorbus' corpulent physique (ref. genus Euphorbia)
• eureken'se: of or from the vicinity of or relating in some way to the town of Eureka in Humboldt County, northern California (ref. Erysimum menziesii ssp. eurekense)
• eureken'sis: referring to the Eureka Dunes or Eureka Valley of Southern California (ref. Dedeckera eurekensis, Oenothera californica var. eurekensis)
• europae'a/europae'um/europae'us: from Europe (ref. Salicornia europaea, Ulex europaeus)
• Euro'tia: from the Greek euros, "mold," because of the hairy covering, this is a generic name that has been changed by Jepson to Krascheninnikovia (ref. genus Eurotia)
• Eury'bia: from the Greek eurybies or eurybia, "far and wide, wide spreading" (ref. genus Eurybia)
• eurycar'pa/eurycar'pum: from eury or eurys, "wide or broad," and carpa, "fruit" (ref. Anelsonia eurycarpa, Sparganium eurycarpum)
• euryceph'ala/euryceph'alus: from the Greek eury or eurys, "wide or broad," and kephale, "a head" (ref. Packera [formerly Senecio] eurycephala)
• Eusto'ma: from the Greek eu for "good or beautiful" and stoma for "mouth," the throat of the corolla tube being large (ref. genus Eustoma)
• Eutham'ia: Greek for "well-crowded," from the dense inflorescence (ref. genus Euthamia)
• ev'adens: evading, hiding, evidently named because this taxon had "evaded detection" (ref. Boechera evadens)
• evanid'um: from the Latin evanidus, "evanescent, feeble, frail, vanishing, disappearing," referring to the rareness of the species (ref. Eriogonum evanidum)
• ewanian'um: see next entry (ref. Delphinium hansenii ssp. ewanianum)
• ew'anii: after Joseph Andorfer Ewan (1902-1999), historian of botany, prolific writer and editor, who was (1945-46) Assistant Curator in the Division of Plants at the Smithsonian and later a Regent's Fellow at the same institution. In 1969 he edited A Short History of Botany in the United States, and that same year wrote an introduction to a reprint of John Torrey and Asa Gray's Flora of North America, originally published 1838-1843. In 1971 he wrote an introduction to a reprint of Thomas Nuttall's The Genera of North American Plants, first published in 1818. And in 1979 he wrote an introduction to a reprint of Frederick Pursh's classic work Flora Americae Septentrionalis, published in 1814. He also wrote in 1970 John Banister and His Natural History of Virginia. He became associated with Tulane University in 1947, bringing to that institution "...a personal herbarium of 32,000 specimens, probably three or four times as many specimens as were already present in the University's collection. The Ewan herbarium is largely responsible for the wide geographical coverage of the University's present collection, as well as many of its type specimens. In addition to his own collections, mostly from Southern California, the Rocky Mountains region, and South America, Ewan's herbarium also included specimens gathered by L.M. Booth (southern California), I. Clokey (Nevada), D. Keck (Penstemon), J.G. Lemmon (California and Arizona ferns), F.W. Pierson (California), Y. Mexia (Latin America) and the Gray Herbarium exsiccatae [defined as "published, uniform, numbered sets of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels"] of the Fernald period. Specimens of Delphinium and Vismia, Ewan's own taxonomic specialties, are also well represented. The Tulane herbarium benefitted from Ewan's interest in botanical history and bibliography; a number of specimens were acquired that had been collected by well-known exploring expeditions of the nineteenth century, these mostly duplicates from European herbaria, particularly the British Museum (Natural History) and the Conservatoire et Jardins Botaniques, Geneva. A nearly complete set of Asa Gray's North American Gramineae and Cyperaceae was also added. All collections were accommodated in modern steel cases, and curated by Nesta Dunn Ewan, who worked as a volunteer for thirty years." (From A Brief History of the Tulane Herbarium on the web). The Ewan Collection, purchased by the [Missouri Botanic] Garden in 1986, includes the research materials, personal papers, and 11,000 volumes assembled by Joseph Ewan... " (From the Library website of the Missouri Botanic Garden). "Joseph A. Ewan, naturalist and botanical historian, was born in Philadelphia on 24 October 1909. He died peacefully on 5 December 1999 in Mandeville, LA, with Nesta, his wife of 67 years, by his side. Professor Ewan graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1934 and was a research assistant to Willis Linn Jepson in graduate school. He taught at the University of Colorado from 1937 to 1944 and became a professor at Tulane University in 1947. He retired in 1977 as Ida Richardson Professor of Botany Emeritus and remained at Tulane until 1986. Early in his career, Professor Ewan made major scientific contributions in the study of Delphinium. He spent a year during World War II in South America with the Cinchona Survey, locating new sources of quinine. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1954-1955 and later received curatorial appointments with the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was also an early member of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History in London and received its Founders Medal in 1977. As a leading historian of American botany, particulary the 17th-19th centuries, Professor Ewan and Nesta, often his collaborator, published over 400 books, essays, and reviews... Professor Ewan's health - though not his intellect, memory, or sense of humor - deteriorated after a stroke in December of 1996. He asked his family to tell everyone goodbye for him." (From an obituary in the Flora of North America Newsletter, Volume 13, No. 3-4, Jul-Dec. 1999) (ref. Potentilla glandulosa ssp. ewanii)
• ex-: prefix meaning out, off, from, beyond
• exalta'ta/exalta'tum/exalta'tus: very tall, lofty (ref. Sesbania exaltata, Centaurium exaltatum, Epilobium exaltatum [changed by Jepson to oreganum], Eustoma exaltatum, Senecio integerrimus var. exaltatus, Zigadenus exaltatus)
• exara'ta: engraved, furrowed (ref. Agrostis exarata)
• exarista'ta: from aristata, meaning "with a long, bristle-like tip, bearded," and the prefix ex-, which is usually defined as "out, from, or beyond," but which in this case seems to mean "without," since this species generally lacks an awn (ref. Bothriochloa exaristata)
• exauricula'ta: auriculata means "having ear-like structures" and the prefix ex- can mean "out, off, from, beyond," so perhaps this means something like "having ear-like structures that project out from or beyond some other feature" (?) (ref. Verbesina encelioides ssp. exauriculata)
• excava'ta/excavatus: hollowed out (ref. Cryptantha excavata, Calochortus excavatus)
• excel'sea: tall
• excub'itus: presumably likening its habit to that of a sentinel, excubitor (ref. Lupinus excubitus var. austromontanus, Lupinus excubitus var. excubitus, Lupinus excubitus var. hallii, Lupinus excubitus var. johnstonii)
• exig'ua/exig'uus: little, poor in growth, or weak (ref. Claytonia exigua ssp. exigua, Madia exigua, Prenanthella exigua, Salix exigua, Stephanomeria exigua ssp. coronaria, Stephanomeria exigua ssp. deanei, Vicia exigua, Mimulus exiguus)
• ex'ilis: from the Latin exile for "small, thin, slender, feeble" (ref. Eremalche exilis, Monardella exilis, Phacelia exilis)
• exim'ia/exim'ium/exim'ius: from the Latin eximius, "most beautiful, distinguished, uncommon" (ref. Aquilegia eximia, Sidalcea oregana ssp. eximia, Polemonium eximium, Tonestus eximius)
• expan'sa: expanded
• exser'ta: exserted, protruding out of or beyond a surrounding structure, often used in reference to sexual parts that extend beyond the calyx or corolla (ref. Carex exserta, Castilleja exserta)
• exstipula'ta: from stipulata, "having stipules" and the prefix ex-, "out, from, beyond" or exo-, "without." This species does have gland-like stipules so I am not clear on exactly what this means (ref. Euphorbia exstipulata)