Na'jas: from the Greek Naias, a water nymph. The genus Najas was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Na'ma: from the Greek nama, "a spring or stream." The genus Nama was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1759.

na'na/na'num/na'nus: "little," from the Greek nannos, "dwarf."

nanteuil'ii: for Baron Edmond Jules Marie Roger de Nanteuil (1857-1951), who studied Petrorhagia nanteuilii and made many collections of it at Cannes and Agay for the author Burnat, demonstrating that it did not intergrade with related species. An article in Boissiera says he stayed at Cannes from 1880 to 1888 and studied orchids with Paul Bergom. He was a member of the Société botanique de France.

napen'sis: of or from the Napa Valley region.

na'pus: with a little turnip-like root.

Narcis'sus: named for the handsome son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Liriope, who was so entranced by his own beauty that he spurned all others. He was condemned to fell in love with himself in such a way that he could not have what he desired, and seeing his reflection in a pool, that which was only shadow and unreachable, he was so overcome that he wasted away. The gods then turned him into the Narcissus flower. The genus Narcissus was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Nar'dia: named for Stanislao Nardi (?-1730). The genus Nardia was published by Asa Gray in 1821.

Nardos'mia: from the Greek nardos, "spikenard," which is a fragrant ointment derived from the East Indian plant Nardostachys jatamansi, and osme, "smell, odor." The genus Nardosmia was published by Alexandre Henri Gabriel de Cassini in 1825.

Narthe'cium: Umberto Quattrocchi's World Dictionary of Plant Names says: "[from] Latin narthecium, 'an ointment-box, a medicine-chest,' Greek narthex, narthekos, 'rod, giant fennel, casket,' used by Theophrastus and Plinius for Ferula communis, narthekion 'small splint, small rod'" Ferula communis is commonly called the giant fennel, and the Romans called the hollow light rod made from this plant, used for walking sticks, splints, for stirring boiling liquids, and for corporal punishment, a ferula. Some say Ferula communis was also called Narthex, but there appears to be a separate species named Ferula narthex so I'm not sure about that. The genus Narthecium was published by William Hudson in 1762.

nashia'na/nashia'nus: after Charlotte Eden Nash (Mrs. Hugo Smith) (1899-1982), who collected extensively in the southern Sierra Nevada and the Mojave Desert in the 1930s for Willis Linn Jepson, and throughout Kern County for several decades thereafter, and whose collections are noteworthy for the precise and complete ecological notes that accompanied her specimens.

Nassel'la: diminutive of the Latin nassa, "a basket with a narrow neck, a fish basket." The genus Nassella was published by Étienne-Émile Desvaux in 1845.

Nastur'tium: from the Latin nasus tortus, meaning "twisted nose", in reference to the effect on the nasal passages of eating the plants. The genus Nasturtium was published by William Townsend Aiton in 1812.

nastur'tium-aqua'ticum: nasturtium from the Latin nasus tortus, "a twisted nose," due to the plant's pungent taste, and aquaticum pertaining to water.

Naumburg'ia: named for Samuel Johann Naumburg (1768-1799). He was the author of Textbook of Pure Botany According to Principles of Critical Philosophy Applied to Empirical Science (1798). The genus Naumburgia was published in 1802 by Conrad Moench.

nauseo'sa/nauseo'sus: nauseating, supposedly from the odor.

Navarret'ia: named after Francisco Fernandez de Navarrete (1680-1742), a Spanish philospher born in Granada, anatomist and professor of anatomy, naturalist and chamber physician to Felipe V of Spain. He studied medicine in Granada and was responsible for the first meteorological instrumental series of data collected in Spain, which was a set of observations in Granada between December, 1728 and February, 1730 which were included in a handwritten book dated 1732 entitled Cielo y suelo granadino (Sky and soil in Granada). One of the focuses of this work concerned the influence of climate on human health. He moved to Madrid in 1734 to become physician to the King. He was an active member of the Royal Academy of Medicine (founded in 1734) and the Royal Academy of History (founded in 1738). It was believed at the time that illness, epidemics, and public health were related to environmental conditions, especially to the variability of meteorological factors, so medical academies and physicians were the prime movers of early meteorological observations in Spain. This belief continued up until the mid-19th century. An article by Fernando S. Rodrigo in the journal Climate of the Past gives the following: “Navarrete was the author of many works, most of them unedited and kept as manuscripts in the archives of the Spanish Academies of Medicine and History. His attention was focused not only on medicine, but also on physical observations, cosmography, geography, botany, and, in general, all the fields considered to be part of “natural history”. His main work was Ephemérides barométrico-médicas matritenses (Barometric–medical ephemeris for Madrid), published in Madrid in 1737, which was a set of daily meteorological observations (atmospheric pressure, temperature, wind direction, and qualitative comments on rain, cloudiness, and other meteorological events) taken in Madrid from March to November 1737. Here, the author established the basis of an observational program dedicated to compiling all the meteorological data potentially useful to medical studies not only in Madrid, but also in other Spanish cities.” He died in Madrid in 1742. The genus Navarretia was published by Hipólito Ruiz López and José Antonio Pavón in 1794.

neal'leyi: named for Texas botanist Greenleaf Cilley Nealley (1846-1896), specialist on spermatophytes. She was a botanical collector in Texas and other states, amd gathered forage plants for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She was the co-author with S.M. Tracy, J. Pool and G. Vasey of Report of an investigation of the Arid Districts of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Utah which was released in 1887. She corresponded with George Engelmann and was possibly the first botanist at Texas A&M University.

neapolita'num: of or from Naples (Italy), Neopolitan.

nebrascen'sis: of or from Nebraska.

Neck'era: named for Noël Joseph de Necker (1730-1793, Belgian physician, botanist, mycologist and bryologist. He was the personal physician of the Prince of the Palatinate in Mannheim. He was very interested in the study of mosses and wrote several works aboiut them. He also described for the first time the orchid genus Dactylorhiza of the Orchid family. The genus Neckera was published by Johann Hedwig in 1801.

nees'ii: named for the German botanist, physician, zoologist, and natural philosopher Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck (1776-1858). The following is quoted from Wikipedia: "He was a contemporary of Goethe and was born within the lifetime of Linnaeus. He described approximately 7,000 plant species (almost as many as Linnaeus himself). His last official act as president of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina was to admit Charles Darwin as a member. He was the author of numerous monographs on botany and zoology. His best-known works deal with fungi. Nees von Esenbeck was born in a small village in what is now Odenwaldkreis, Germany. He showed an early interest in science and after receiving his first education at Darmstadt he went on to Jena, obtaining his degree in medicine in 1800. He practiced as a physician for a time, but he had developed a great interest in botany during his university studies, and eventually he returned to academia. In 1816 he joined the Leopoldina Academy, which was one of the most prestigious institutions in Europe. In 1817 he was appointed professor of botany in Erlangen. Three years later he became professor of natural history in Bonn, and in 1831 he was appointed to the chair of botany in the university of Breslau.In 1818 he was elected president of the Leopoldina Academy. He continued as president of the academy for the rest of his life. In 1848 he became politically active, and due to conflicts with the government he eventually, in 1851 he was deprived of his professorship and pension at the university of Breslau. Nees von Esenbeck died essentially penniless in Breslau."

neglec'ta: neglected or overlooked.

negun'do: from the native Sanskrit and Bengali nirgundi, the specific name of the plant Vitex negundo and given to Acer negundo because of a supposed similarity of leaf.

Neill'ia: named for Patrick Neill (1776-1851), Scottish printer, naturalist and horticulturist. Wikipedia says: “He was

born in Edinburgh on 25 October 1776, and spent his life there. [He attended Edinburgh University but did not graduate.] He became the head of the large printing firm of Neill & Co., of Edinburgh, but during the last thirty years of his life he took little active part in its management. Early in his career he devoted his spare time to natural history, especially botany and horticulture. The Wernerian Natural History Society was established in 1808, and in 1809 the Caledonian Horticultural Society was founded. Neill was the first secretary [and a founding member] of both

societies, holding the latter post for forty years. He was Fellow of the Linnean Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and honorary LL.D. of Edinburgh University [accounting for the fact that he was often referred to as Dr. Neill]. He served as President of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh in 1842–43.” He was the author of A Tour Through Some of the Islands of Orkney and Shetland (1806) and The Fruit, Flower, and Kitchen Garden. He never married and died after a paralytic stroke at his residence of Canonmills Cottage near Edinburgh. The genus Neillia was published by David Don in 1825. (Photo credit: Art UK)

nelsonia'num: named for self-taught botanist and collector James Carlton Nelson (1867-1944). He was born in

Kentucky just two years after the end of the Civil War. His father was a farmer and then a newspaper editor. Nelson received his B.A. in 1890 and M.S. in 1893 both from Hanover College, Indiana, then taught at Carthage College in Missouri. He taught and served as principal at schools in Iowa, Illionois and Washington before joining Salem High School in Oregon about 1814. He was associated with Salem High School for the remainder of his life, principal for 15 years, then principal emeritus and registrar. He also was for a time Superintendent of Schools for the Salem

school system. While a career educator, his real passion was botany which he indulged evenings, weekends and during summer break, collecting plants all over Oregon. He corresponded with renowned botanists both amateur and professional, and  maintained a close relationship with Willamette University botany professor Morton Peck. He requested help from James Francis MacBride in identifying specimens he had collected, and was able to help that scholar in return by sending specimens back to Cambridge for MacBride to use. At least 53 specimens collected by MacBride are part of the Gray Herbarium collection today, and the Oregon State University herbarium contains 339 specimens collected by Nelson. (Photo credit: Willamette Heritage Center)

nel'sonii/nelson'ii: named for Aven Nelson (1859-1952), teacher, author, botanical collector and plant taxonomist. He

was born in Iowa to Norwegian immigrants and his given name until he entered primary school was Even. He became a teacher at the age of 16 and was appointed assistant professor of natural sciences and instructor in English at Drury College at 24. He was one of the first faculty members of the University of Wyoming and became the school's first librarian in 1887. Four years later he became a botanist at the Agricultural Experiment Station and a year later received an M.A. degree from Harvard. He made his first botanical collecting trip in 1894, collecting some 1,200 species,

and followed that up with another the next year, both trips in Wyoming. In 1899 his collection was officially designated the Rocky Mountain Herbarium by the Board of Trustees of the University of Wyoming, and he botanized extensively in Yellowstone National Park. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Denver in 1904. In 1909 he published "New Manual of the Botany of the Central Rocky Mountains (Vascular Plants)" with John Coulter as senior author but completely rewritten by Nelson and in 1912 he published "Spring Flora of the Intermountain States." In 1918 he was appointed President of the University of Wyoming. When he was 77 years old he spent three months in Arizona with his wife collecting 1,000 specimens and then was elected president of the Botanical Society of America. The following he year he became the first president of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. At the age of 80 he and his wife botanized Mt. McKinley National Park. He died at the age of 93. (Information from a website of the Rocky Mountain Herbarium)

nel'sonii: named for David Nelson (c.1740?-1789), British seaman and botanist-collector aboard HMS Bounty. Wikipedia says: “Nothing is known of his ancestry or early life. In 1776, while working as a gardener at Kew Gardens, he accepted a position as a servant to William Bayly, the official astronomer on HMS Resolution [slated to depart for the South Seas on Captain Cook’s 3rd voyage with William Bligh as Sailing Master]. He was promoted to able seaman; however, his real task as arranged between Joseph Banks and Cook was to collect as many botanical specimens as possible for the Royal Gardens. He received a small amount of botanical training and instruction from Banks and William Aiton before embarking. During the voyage, he also made a significant collection of native Hawaiian birds, which is now housed in the British Museum.” After Cook’s death in 1779 and that of Captain Charles Clerke who had succeeded to command of the expedition later that same year, the Resolution and the Discovery completed their near circumnavigation of the globe and arrived back in England by way of Macao, the Sunda Strait and Cape Town. Wikipedia again: “On returning to London in 1780, he worked as a gardener at Kew Gardens for seven years, before Banks arranged his appointment as botanist to Bligh's voyage to Tahiti to obtain breadfruit trees. Nelson had control of the Great Cabin and 1015 potted breadfruit trees which were intended for the West Indies. He was caught up in the mutiny and, remaining loyal to the captain, was one of the 19 men cast adrift in a small boat. He survived the famous 3800-mile voyage to Timor, but a few days after arriving in Kupang, died of a fever. Bligh would later name Mount Nelson, Tasmania in his honor.”

nelsonii: named for Elias Emanuel Nelson (1876-1949). He was born in Hjorted, Sweden, and died in Yakima, Washington. He is listed on the JSTOR website as a co-collector of Aven Nelson, but I don't think he was related.

nelsonio'rum: after Thomas William Nelson (1928-2006) and Jane P. Nelson (1939- ) of the Humboldt State U. herbarium.

Nelum'bo: from nelumbu, a Sinhalese (Sri Lankan) name for the lotus plant. The genus Nelumbo was published by Michel Adanson in 1763.

Nemacau'lis: from the Greek nema, "a thread," and caulis, "stem," for the slender stems and branches. The genus Nemacaulis was published by Thomas Nuttall in 1848.

nema'clada/Nema'cladus: from the Greek nemos, "thread," and clados, "branch," thus meaning having "thread-like branches." The first described species, Nemacladus ramosissimus, was published in 1842 by Thomas Nuttall, and was so named because of its very slender pedicels.

Nemo'phila: from the Greek nemos, "a glade," and phileo, "to love," meaning that it has "an affinity for groves." Nemophila was published by Thomas Nuttall in 1822.

nemora'lis: growing in groves or woods.

nemoro'sa: same as nemoralis above.

neoglandulo'sum: apparently the name Rhododendron glandulosum was already in existence, so when Ledum glandulosum was made part of genus Rhododendron, it had to be named something other than that so 'neo' was added.

Neoholmgrenia: derived from neo for 'new' and in reference to genus Holmgrenia for Arthur Herman Holmgren (1912-1992), his son Noel Herman Holmgren (1937- ), a professor at Oregon State University and Lehman College, and Curator of the New York Botanical Garden, and daughter-in-law Patricia Kern Holmgren (1940- ), Director of the Herbarium of the N.Y. Botanical Garden, for their contribution to the botanical knowledge of the western United States. According to his obituary, he was "a recognized mentor, educator, researcher, authority, on western U.S. flora, plant explorer, environmentalist, conservationist, gardener, and music aficionado." He was Professor of Botany and Curator of the Intermountain Herbarium, Utah State University, 1943-1978, and a teacher at the Teton Science School in the 1980s. The genus Neoholmgrenia was published by Warren Lambert Wagner and Peter C. Hoch in 2009.

Neokoch'ia: derived from neo for 'new' and in reference to genus Kochia after German physician and botanist Wilhelm Daniel Josef Koch, see Kochia (1771-1849). The genus Neokochia was published by Ge Lin(g) Chu and Stewart C. Sanderson in 2008.

Neolloyd'ia: named for Francis Ernest Lloyd (1868-1947), botanist, professor and author. He was born in

Manchester, England, and came to Philadelphia with his parents at an early age. He was at times a cowpuncher, a dentist’s assistant, and apprentice watchmaker. He decided to train for the ministry but when he entered Princeton his interests turned to biology. He received an A.B. (1891) and an A.M. (1895) degree at Princeton, followed by further education at Munich and Bonn in Germany, and at Masaryk University in Brno in the Czech Republic. He was a man of wide knowledge and a plant physiologist by choice. He was involved in the founding and building of the American

Society of Plant Physiologists and served as its third president from 1926 to 1927. He also was on the first editorial board of the journal Plant Physiology. His teaching career began in 1901 at Williams College, followed by several years at Pacific University in Oregon as an instructor of biology and geology, and nine years at Teacher’s College of Columbia University. While at Columbia he wrote a book on the teaching of biology and married fellow teacher Mary Elizabeth Hart. In addition to the his book on biology, he also wrote papers on plant anatomy, morphology and embryology. From this point he concentrated on research especially on physiology, and worked at the Desert Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. He conducted further research on guayule, a rubber plant of the Chihuahuan Desert, wrote a monograph about it, and worked for more than 20 years for the U.S. Rubber Company. He spent a few years at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute doing research on the physiology of the cell. In 1912 he began the most important phase of his career when he went to McGill University as professor of botany and remained there until he retirement in 1934. He worked on the trapping mechanisms of carnivorous plants and made a trip to Australia to observe species that were not otherwise obtainable. After leaving McGill, he settled at Carmel-by-the-Sea and worked on his book The Carnivorous Plants which was published in 1942. He was for a time president of the Royal Society of Canada and received an honorary D.Sc. from the University of Wales. He is considered one of the foremost plant physiologists of his time, a dedicated, kindly and charming man given to story-telling anf the utterances of drolleries. He died at Carmel-by-the-Sea. The genus Neolloydia was published by Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose in 1922. The genus Neolloydia was published by Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose in 1922.

neomexica'na/neomexica'num: of or from New Mexico.

Neomoli'na: named for Juan Ignácio Molina González (1740-1829), Chilean priest, naturalist, geographer and

chronicler, also known as Abbé (Abate, Abbott) Molina and in Italy as Giovanni Ignazio Molina. He was born in Villa Alegre, Chile. He was skilled in languages, Greek, Latin, Italian, French and Spanish, and was accepted by the Jesuits at the age of fifteen and educated at their college in Concepción. The Jesuit order was expelled from the Kingdom of Spain and he was forced to leave Chile in 1768. His exile from his native land scarred his life forever, particularly since he was never again to see his mother. He settled in Bologna, Italy, where due to his linguistic abilities he

was awarded the position of chair of Greek language at the University of Bologna and that of natural history in the Institute of the same city. He produced two works, the Compendium della storia geografica, naturale e civile del regno del Cile in 1776, and the Saggio della storia civile del Cile in 1787, and gained a high reputation as a historian and geographer. The latter work described for the first time the natural history of Chile and introduced many species native to that country to science.  In 1803 he became a a professor of Natural Sciences and later a member of the Royal Italian Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts. Ruiz and Pavón dedicated to him the plant genus Molina, later considered a subgenus of Baccharis by Wilhelm Heering (Reiche 1902), and recently recreated as Neomolina by F.H. Hellwig and ranked as genus. His last work before passing away was Memoirs of Natural History published in 1829. His death, which took place in Bologna at the age of 89, caused a great impact on the European intellectual media. A species of Chilean lizard, Liolaemus molinai, was named in his honor. The genus Molina was published by Antonio José Cavanilles in 1790 and the genus Neomolina by Frank H. Hellwig in 1993.

neopolita'num: of or from Naples.

Neoschroe'tera: named for Carl Joseph Schröter (1855-1939), Swiss botanist, traveller and professor of systematic

botany. born in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany, and studied natural sciences at Eidgenössische Polytechnische Schule (ETH) from 1874, where one of his early influences was geologist Albert Heim. Following his habilitation (the qualification to conduct self-contained university teaching which is the key for access to a professorship in many European countries) in 1878, he worked as an assistant to botanist Carl Eduard Cramer. In 1880 he received a doctorate from the University of Zurich, and in 1883 became a professor of botany at ETH Zurich, a position he kept until

1926. He was a pioneer in the fields of phytogeography and phytosociology, and conducted research on paleobotany, linology and morphology. He introduced the concept of ‘autecology’ to explain the relationship of an individual plant with its external environment, and ‘synecology’ to express relationships between plant communities and external influences. He was the co-author with Charles Flahaut of Rapport sur la nomenclature phytogéographique (Reports on phytogeographical nomenclature), with Friedrich Gottlieb Stebler of Die besten Futterpflanzen, a work involving forage crop cultivation and economics, and with Johann Jakob Früh of a book on Swiss moorlands entitled Die Moore der Schweiz : mit Berücksichtigung der gesamten Moorfrage. He was also the author of The Plant Life of the Alps, and was a member of numerous national and international scientific societies. He was a pioneer in nature conservation from 1906 and sat in the Swiss Conservation Commission. He received numerous honorary doctorates and was one of the founders of the Swiss National Park. The genus Neoschroetera was published by John Isaac Briquet in 1926.

Neostap'fia: derived from neo for 'new' and in reference to genus Stapfia after the Austrian-born botanist Otto Stapf (1857-1933). He was trained in Vienna and moved to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in 1890. He was keeper of the Herbarium from 1909 to 1920. He was awarded the Linnean Medal in 1927. The genus Neostapfia was published by Joseph Burtt Davy in 1899.

neoter'icus: new, modern.

Neot'tia: from Greek neossia for "bird's nest." The genus Neottia was published by Jean Étienne Guettard in 1754.

Nepe'ta: the ancient Latin name of the aromatic plant catnip. The genus Nepeta was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

nephrophyl'la: from the Greek nephros, "kidney," and phyllon, "leaf," thus, with kidney-shaped leaves.

Ner'ium: a classical Greek name. The genus Nerium was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

nervi'na: probably the same as the following entry.

nervo'sa: having distinct veins or nerves, usually the leaves.

nervulo'sa/nervulo'sum: same approximate meaning as previous entry.

nesiot'ica/nesiot'icus: from the Greek nesos, "island," and the -ica suffix indicating "possession or belonging to," thus belonging to an island.

Nesto'tus: anagram of generic name Stenotus. The genus Nestotus was published by Roland P. Roberts, Lowell Edward Urbatsch and Kurt Maximilian Neubig in 2005.

neuropet'ala: with veined or nerved petals.

neurophor'a: bearing veins or nerves.

nevaden'se/nevaden'sis: of or from Nevada or the Sierra Nevadas.

nevadinco'la: from Nevada and the Latin incola meaning "an inhabitant", hence an inhabitant of Nevada.

nev'inii/nevin'ii: named for the Reverend Joseph Cook Nevin (1835-1913), Pennsylvania-born missionary and botanist and fellow of the Southern California Academy of Sciences, a brilliant linguist and botanical collector. On behalf of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Associate Presbyterian Church, Nevin was sent with his wife Amanda Beggs Nevin to work in China and remained in Guangzhou from 1860 to 1870. After a stay in the USA he returned to China with his second wife, Mary Catherine McCague Nevins, and was there until 1877. He collected plants in China, and at some point after that he moved to Los Angeles where he continued plant collecting. He visited Santa Catalina Island in 1884 with W. S. Lyon, and they were among the island’s first botanical collectors. They collected again together in 1885 on San Clemente Island. The specimens they collected are located at the UC Berkeley herbarium and at the Pomona Herbarium at Rancho Santa Ana.

Nevius'ia: named for the Reverend Reuben Denton Nevius (1827-1913), a preacher who felt called to the West in the

days of its early settlement and development and helped establish churches in Eastern Oregon, in Washington and in Idaho. He also was an avid botanist who passed on that knowledge to anyone who would listen, a dedicated builder of churches, and a gifted teacher. He was born in Ovid, New York and recived his Divinity degree from Union College in Schenectady in 1849. He went to Columbus, Goergia, for further religious study in 1850, then served as an Episcopal priest in Alabama, moving from Wetumpka to Tuscaloosa in 1855. Around this time his interest in botany

became intense and he began a four-decade long correspondence with Asa Gray at Harvard. He sent him samples of plants and searched out others at Gray’s request. Although a northerner he remained in the South during the war, then became Rector of All Saints’ Church in Oil City, Pennsylvania. After his marriage, the couple moved to Mobile, Alabama, where he was appointed as Rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church. Regrettably his wife died of yellow fever the following year. Wikipedia adds: “In 1872, Nevius was given the ecclesiastical responsibility for a wide circuit in eastern Oregon, where he established seven new congregations. His circuit-riding responsibilities later included eastern Washington and Idaho. He directed the building of many new churches, some of which are still standing.” Following his death, his body was transported back to New York where he was buried in the Ovid town cemetary. He had two children both born and died in 1869. Asa Gray named the plant genus Neviusia in his honor. There has been a controversy over assigning credit for the discovery of this genus which was published by Asa Gray in 1858.

new'berryi/newber'ryi: named for John Strong Newberry (1822-1892), an American physician, geologist,

paleontologist and botanist who collected in California on the Williamson Railroad Survey. He was born at Windsor, Connecticut and spent most of his early life in the Western Reserve of Ohio which was an area of northeastern Ohio that was claimed first by the Colony and then by the state of Connecticut and had been granted to the Colony under the terms of its charter by King Charles II. He graduated from Western Reserve College in 1846 and from Cleveland Medical School in 1848. Following two years of study in medicine and paleontology in Paris, he began a medical

practice in Cleveland. In 1855 the War Department sent an exploring expedition under Lieutenant Williamson to survey the country between San Francisco and the Columbia River, and he joined it. Subsequent to that expedition, he joined Joseph Ives as a geologist in an exploration of the Colorado River, and then served as naturalist on an expedition to southwestern Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. He was the first geologist known to visit the Grand Canyon. He was also a professor at Columbian (now George Washington) University. After being elected a member of the United States Sanitary Commission in 1861 and inspecting troops at Cairo, Illinois, he resigned from the Army and became secretary of the Western Department of the Sanitary Commission, and for the next five years was occupied with organizing the work of the commission, distributing hospital stores, and providing food and shelter to current and former soldiers.  In 1866 he was offered the chair of geology and paleontology in the School of Mines, Columbia College (now Columbia University), which he accepted and held for 24 years. While at this institution he compiled a museum of over 100,000 specimens of geologic and paleontologic significance, being one of the best collections to be found anywhere. Other positions which he held included director of the Ohio Geological Survey, member of the Illinois Geological Survey, President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, President of the New York Academy of Sciences, President of the Torrey Botanical Club, one of the judges at the 1876 World’s Fair in Philadelphia, Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and one of the founding organizers of the Geological Society of America. He died at New Haven.

newlonia'na: named for Lulu Marie Newlon (Mrs. George Burr Upton) (1882-1950). Her mother was from Michigan, her father from Pennsylvania, and she was born in Michigan. She died of leukemia in Los Angeles. One source referred to her as Dr. Newlon. For several years from 1919 to 1922 she worked on W.L. Jepson's Flora of California. David Hollombe also added that "Lulu Newlon drew the illustrations in plates 8 & 9 of Adele Grant's 1924 Monograph of the genus Mimulus."

Neyraud'ia: named for Auguste Adolphe Marc Reynaud (1804-1887), French naval surgeon and naturalist. Wikipedia says: “As a naval surgeon, he obtained a ‘third-class’ ranking in 1821. Beginning in 1846, he served as chief surgeon, and in 1858 was named inspector general of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. During the Franco-Prussian War he was tasked with the organization of naval ambulance services. He took part in several sea voyages during his career, most notably in 1827/28 aboard the Chevrette, from which he collected zoological specimens during trips to India, Burma and the Dutch East Indies. In 1836 he became a correspondent member of the Académie Nationale de Médecine." In 1847 chloroform anesthesia was introduced to clinical practice and was used widely by the French Army during the Crimean campaign where deaths attributed to it were estimated to be 1/12,000 or 1/13,000. As a Marine surgeon in charge of the Health Service and Military Hospital of the Port of Brest, Reynaud invented an anesthesia cone, ancestor of our current masks, designed to facilitate quantified inhalation of chloroform. The genus Neyraudia was published by Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1896/1897.

nicaeen'sis: of or from Nice (formerly Nicaea Maritima), southern France, or Iznik (formerly Nicaea), Turkey.

Nican'dra: named for Nicander, Greek poet of Colophon, Asia Minor, physician and grammarian who wrote on the

subject of plants around 100 BC, notably in his poem Alexipharmaca, which treats of poisons and their antidotes. He was born in Claros near Colophon in modern-day Turkey. Wikipedia says: “He wrote a number of works both in prose and verse, of which two survive complete. The longest, Theriaca, is a hexameter poem on the nature of venomous animals and the wounds which they inflict. The other, Alexipharmaca, consists of 630 hexameters treating of poisons and their antidotes. Nicander's main source for medical information was the physician Apollodorus of

Egypt. Among his lost works, Heteroeumena was a mythological epic, used by Ovid in the Metamorphoses and epitomized by Antoninus Liberalis; Georgica, of which considerable fragments survive, was perhaps imitated by Virgil. The works of Nicander were praised by Cicero (De oratore, i. 16), imitated by Ovid and Lucan, and frequently quoted by Pliny and other writers (e.g. Tertullian in De Scorpiace, I, 1).” Encyclopedia Britannica says: “Nicander’s reputation does not seem justified; his works, as Plutarch says in De audiendis poetis, have nothing poetic about them except the metre, and the style is bombastic and obscure. However, they contain some interesting information on the ancient approach to the subjects treated.” Almost nothing is known about his life. He may have died in Alexandria, Egypt. The genus Nicandra was published by Michel Adanson in 1763.

nicholson'ii: named for William Edward Nicholson (1866-1945), British bryologist and President of the British Bryological Society in 1929-30. He was born in Lewes, Sussex, and became interested in bryophytes around 1890. He conducted field research and cultivated liverworts in his greenhouse. From his childhood until his middle years he was as much an entomologist as a botanist, and had an excellent collection of butterflies and moths. He also showed great interest in archaeology, and was secretary of the Sussex Archaeological Society for 14 years. After contracting pneumonia, he left school and was tutored privately. He did study law in London and joined his father’s law practice in Lewes, remaining there until 1930. In 1916 he married Eleanor Calvert but had no children. He loved to travel and visited Lapland, Crete, Sicily, southern Portugal and the Algarve. He served with the local volunteers in World War I and continued to explore the surrounding countryside up until the outbreak of the Second World War. He left Lewes for London in 1940 and died at Mullion. His herbarium and letters are at Cambridge, and Liverpool Museum has 60 of his packets.

Nicollet'ia: named for Joseph Nicholas Nicollet (1786-1843), the French geologist, physical geographer, astronomer

and explorer, and John C. Fremont's first teacher in scientific studies. Nicollet pioneered in the use of fossils to correlate strata and the barometer as a means of determining elevation. He was born at Cluses in the Duchy of Savoy, France, attended the Latin School in Samoens, then the Jesuit college L’École Normale in Chambéry, a larger, more cosmopolitan town, and finally being admitted to L’École Normale in Paris. His mathematical  and astronomical skills were evident early on and he became a teacher of mathematics at the age of 19 and worked with the scientist

Pierre-Simon Laplace at the Paris Observatory. In the 1820’s he was a professor of mathematics at Collège Louis-le-Grand in Paris. He emigrated to the United States in 1832, living first in New Orleans  and then spending the next several years travelling through the South, mostly between New Orleans and Baltimore, before reaching St. Louis. In 1836-1837 he led an expedition that surveyed the sources of the Mississippi River, and in 1838 accepted a position with the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers to lead an expedition to survey the land between the Upper Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, mainly in Minnesota and North and South Dakota. Nicollet’s maps were among the most accurate of the time and frequently included Native American place names. Many of his sketches and journals from his expeditions are housed at the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Archives. In 1843, just after his death at the age of 57 in Washington, D.C., his Map of the Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi was published, which included maps of a region half the size of Europe. The genus Nicolletia was published by Asa Gray in 1845.

Nicotia'na: named for Jean Nicot de Villemain (1530-1600), French diplomat, scholar and the person supposedly

responsible for introducing tobacco into France about 1560, also author of one of the first French language dictionaries. He was born in Nimes to a notary father and studied in Toulouse and Paris before entering into service of the French court in 1553. In 1559 he became French ambassador to Portugal. While in Lisbon he made his first acquaintance with tobacco. Encyclopedia Britannica says: “He learned of the plant and its medicinal properties from Portuguese humanist Damião de Góis. Intrigued by the details related by de Góis, Nicot decided to test a tobacco ointment on a

Lisbon man with a tumour. The man was cured, and further investigation of the plant’s medicinal applications convinced Nicot that it was a medical nostrum, effecting cures for conditions from cancer to gout to headache. In 1560 Nicot sent tobacco seeds—as well as figs, oranges, and lemons—to the queen of France, Catherine de Médici, at Paris. Along with the specimens, Nicot included a letter expounding the medicinal properties of tobacco. In 1561 Nicot returned to the court in Paris, where he presented the queen with leaves from a tobacco plant. It is believed that the queen received instructions from Nicot for preparing a simple headache remedy by crushing the leaves into a powder that could be inhaled through the nose. The remedy, which proved satisfactory, soon became popular with members of the French court, who used tobacco powder to stave off various illnesses. In this preventative role, tobacco became identified with the pleasures of nobility, and it is likely that many users developed addictions to it. Eventually the plant was cultivated in France and other parts of northern Europe to fulfill demand. In the 17th century in England the crushed preparation became widely known as snuff.” Nicot eventially was granted the title Villemain and retired to his home on land given him near the village of Brie-Comte-Robert, located in the north-central region of Île-de-France. It was here that he composed the French dictionary Thresor de la langue françoyse, tant ancienne que moderne (Treasure of the French Language) in 1606, which was an extension of French humanist Robert Estienne’s Dictionaire françois-latin (French-Latin Dictionary) published in 1531 . The genus Nicotiana was named in his honor by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The active ingredient in tobacco, nicotine, was also named for him. He died on May 4, 1600 in Paris, France.

nidif'ica: from the Latin nidus, "nest."

nidular'ium/nidular'ius: derived from and diminutive of the Latin nidus, "nest," and arius, "pertaining to."

nid'ulum: meaning "a little nest."

Nieremberg'ia: named for Juan Eusebio Nieremberg y Otin (1595-1658)., Spanish Jesuit intellectual, mystic,

author and polymath.  He was born in Madrid of German parents. He studied the classics at the Royal Court, science at the University of Alcalá, and canon law at Salamanca. He joined as a novice the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1614, and subsequently became lecturer on scripture at the Jesuit seminary in Madrid until his death. He studied Greek and Hebrew at the Colegio de Huete, arts and theology at Alcalá, and was ordained in 1623. From 1625 he taught natural history at the Colegio Imperial de Madrid. The Catholic Encyclopedia adds: “At the Colegio Imperial of Madrid

he taught humanities and natural history for sixteen years and Sacred Scripture for three. As a director of souls he was much sought, being appointed by royal command confessor to the Duchess of Mantua, granddaughter of Philip II. Remarkable for his exemplary life, and the heights of prayer to which he attained, he was an indefatigable worker, and one of the most prolific writers of his time. Seventy-three printed and eleven manuscript works are attributed to him, of these twenty-four at least are in Latin. Though his works are distinguished for their erudition, those in Spanish being characterized according to Capmani, by nobility and purity of diction, terse, well-knit phrases, forcible metaphors, and vivid imagery, certain defects mar his style, at times inelegant and marked by a certain disregard for the rules of grammar and a too pronounced use of antithesis, paronomasia, and other plays upon words. His principal works are: Del Aprecio y Estima de la Divina Gracia (1638), De la Diferencia entre lo Temporal y Eterno (1640), Opera Parthenica (1659), Historia naturae maxime peregrinae Libris XVI, distincta (1635), De la afición y amor de Jesus, De la afición y amor de María (1630), Obras Christianas espirituales y filosóficas (1651), and Obras Christianas (1665), are still extant. It was customary in many of the Spanish churches to read selections from these books every Sunday. He died in Madrid. The genus Nierembergia was published by Hipólito Ruiz López and José Antonio Pavón in 1794.

nieuwland'ii: named for Reverend Julius Aloysius Arthur Nieuwland (1878-1936), Holy Cross priest and professor

of botany and chemistry at the University of Notre Dame. He was born in Hansbeke, Belgium, and emigrated to South Bend, Indiana, with his parents in 1880. He enrolled at the University of Notre Dame  studying Latin and Greek and received an undergraduate degree in 1899. After studying for the priesthood, he was ordained in 1903. Shifting his focus, he attended graduate school and took botany and chemistry at the Catholic University of America. During his doctoral studies he was the first to synthesize the chemical compound lewisite, a colorless,  odorless arsenic-based blistering

agent similar to mustard gas, named for its inventor Winford Lee Lewis (1878-1943), an American soldier and chemist, who is generally credited with inventing it. His exposure to the newly synthesized compound caused him to be hospitalized for several days. He received his Ph.D. in 1904, following which he returned to Notre Dame where he was professor of botany from 1904 to 1918 and professor of organic chemistry from 1918 to 1936. His researches concerned the chemistry of acetylene which eventually led to the invention of neoprene. In 1909, Nieuwland founded the peer-reviewed journal American Midland Naturalist, acting as its editor until 1934. One of his more famous students was Knute Rockne. He was President of the Indiana Academy of Sciences. In 1996 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, the only Catholic priest to receive this honor. He died at the age of 58.

Nigel'la: from the Latin name nigellus, "somewhat black, dark," diminutive of niger or nigrum, "black," referring to the seed color. The genus Nigella was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

nigellifor'mis: having the form of or resembling Nigella.

ni'ger: see nigra below.

ni'gra/ni'grum: black, referring to the color of the seeds.

nigres'cens: blackish, becoming black.

nigrical'ycis: with black calyces.

nig'ricans: blackish.

nil: possibly referring to the Nile?  I have read that it is an Arabic name for a species of morning glory, Pharbitis hederacea, a synonym of Ipomoea hederacea. But nil also derives from the Latin nilum, "nothing," so I am unclear what it means

nipomen'sis: after the Nipomo Dunes in sw San Luis Obispo County, California.

nissenan'a: after the Southern Nissenan tribe of Native Americans who lived approximately where Sacramento is now.

ni'tens: shining.

nit'ida/nit'idum/nit'idus: derived from the Latin meaning "shining, lustrous, whitish."

nitidibacca'tum: from the Latin nitidus, "shining, glittering," and bacca, "a small round fruit, berry."

niva'le/niva'lis: snow-white, growing near snow.

niv'ea/niv'eum/niv'eus: snow-white. 

niv'ium: from the roots nix or nivis for "snow," this is an alternate spelling of niveum, apparently grammatically different from niveum, but conveying the same meaning, that is, "snow, snowy, of snow or belonging to snow." David Hollombe dug up the fact that the type locality for this taxon was Snow Mountain in Lake County east of Mendocino.

nivo'sa: snow-white.

no'bile: notable.

nobsia'na: named for Malcolm Anthony Nobs (1916-1992), American botanist and specialist in the Asteraceae. UC Berkeley has this brief note about him: “Malcolm A. Nobs, plant biologist at the Carnegie Institution of Plant Biology at Stanford, was born in 1916. He received his bachelor's degree in botany from Stanford in 1939 and his Ph.D. in botany from the University of California at Berkeley in 1957.  He was hired as a research assistant at the Carnegie Institution in 1951, became a staff member in 1960, and continued as an emeritus staff member after retiring in 1981. He served in the army during WWII.  He died in Portola Valley in 1992.”

Noccae'a: named for Italian botanist Domenico Nocca (1758-1841), Italian clergyman and professor of botany at the University of Pavia, also Director of the Botanic Garden there from 1797 to 1826. He had previously been director of the Botanical Garden of Mantua until 1797. Wile at the University of Pavia, about 20,000 species of plants were grown in the botanical garden and he exchanged seeds and plants with other well-known botanists of the day. Beginning in 1802 he took over the Chair of the Department of Botany. Having decided upon a survey of the flora of the Pavia region, he enlisted the help of the Italian politician, doctor and botanist Giovanni Battista Balbis in classifying the species, and their work was published in two volumes in 1816 and 1821 with the title of Flora Ticinensis. He was also the author of Ticinensis Horti Academici Plantae selectae (1800), Elements of botany (1805), Onomatologia (1813)  and Historia atque Iconographia Horti Botanici Ticinensis (1818). There have been two genera named Noccaea, one in the Brassicaceae (the one in California) published by Conrad Moench in 1802, and the other in the Asteraceae published in 1891 by Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze

noctiflor'a: night-flowering.

nodiflor'a/nodiflor'um: with flowers borne from the nodes.

nodo'sa/nodo'sum/nodo'sus: with conspicuous nodes.

noldek'ae: named for Anita Matilda Noldeke (1891-1983), plant collector and active member of the California Botanical Club. She was born in San Francisco. Her father was German and her mother Swiss. She is listed as a music teacher in 1920. She sent many valuable specimens of plants collected in Mono County 1937-1938 to the California Academy of Sciences where she was a part-time assistant in the Academy herbarium. Among these were the type specimen of Lupinus noldekae collected near Hot Creek, and in the description it says “The Herbarium of the California Academy of Sciences is indebted to Miss Noldeke for many specimens from that little-known region of Mono County. It is a pleasure to name this lupine in her honor.”

Noli'na: named for Abbé Pierre Charles Nolin (1717- 1795), French arboriculturist, director of the royal nurseries, and agricultural writer who co-authored a treatise on farming around 1755. In the 1750’s he was in Paris at the convent of Saint Marcel, of which he was a canon. He cultivated a garden of exotic plants and edited a catalog which was entitled Essai sur l'agricolture moderne. He apparently leaned more in favor of English style gardens rather than French ones, and he advocated for the introduction into France of trees and shrubs, especially North American, that would be appropriate for a continental climate. He demonstrated considerable expertise in the field of fruit trees and general arboriculture. In the 1760’s he was appointed as Director of royal nurseries and exhibited remarkable administrative talent. He was granted two lodgings in the nurseries themselves, one in Versailles and one in Paris, and in that latter one he maintained a cabinet of natural curiosities which was available for anyone to see and study, his collection of shells being particularly extensive. He held the post for some 30 years, first under King Louis XV and then under Louis XVI, was involved in the planting of the park at Versailles in 1774-1775, and helped to organize the Michaux expedition to the United States. The genus Nolina was published by André Michaux in 1803.

no'li-tang'ere: from the Latin tango, "to touch," and noli, "do not," thus meaning "touch-me-not" which is a general common name for the Impatiens.

nootkaten'sis: of or from the area of Nootka Sound or Nootka Island in Alaska.

nor'risii/norris'ii: named for American botanist Daniel Howard Norris (1933-2017). He was awarded a B.S.

degree in botany from Michigan State University in 1954 and a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Tennessee in 1964. In 1967 he became a professor of botany at Humboldt State University. Between 1984 and 1985 he was a Fulbright Research Scholar at the University of Helsinki, and in 1990 he was awarded with an honorary Ph.D. from that institution. In 1991 he transferred his brylogical collection to the University of California, Berkeley to continue his research. For two decades he held the position of Curator of Bryophytes at UC Berkeley. All

together he collected about 116,000 bryophyte specimens mainly from California and Papua New Guinea but from every continent except Antarctica including four moss genera new to science. He died after a long period of being debilitated by Parkinson's disease. (Photo credit: UC Berkeley)

nor'risii/norris'ii: named for Larry L. Norris (1949- ). The following is from "Notes on Contributors" (Fremontia, January, 1984): "Larry L. Norris is a research botanist with the National Park Service in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. He was formerly a naturalist in Death Valley National Monument, and compiled a plant checklist for the area. He also compiled a plant list for Sequoia/Kings Canyon, and bird checklists for both areas. He is still with the National Park Service and is currently Desert Southwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit Research Coordinator, based at the University of Arizona in Tucson."

norten'sis: of or from del Norte County.

nortonia'na: named for John Bitting Smith Norton (1872-1966), botanist, taxonomist and mycologist. He was

born in Tennessee and relocated to Kansas in the late 1890’s. He was trained at Kansas State Agricultural College (now Kansas State University) by agrostologist Albert S. Hitchcock and received a B.S. 1896 and an M.S. in 1901. From 1894 to 1896 he worked as plant pathologist and an assistant professor at the Agricultural Experiment Station, and from 1896 to 1901 as a botanical assistant at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri. He moved east in 1901 and arrived at the Maryland Agricultural College, assuming a position with the Maryland

Agricultural Experiment Station and the Department of Botany. He was appointed State Plant Pathologist responsible for experimentation, botanical surveying, gathering and disseminating information, and instructionm, and established the Norton-Brown Herbarium at the University of Maryland, College Park. In 1912 he began researching tomato species for disease resistance, and in 1917 he produced the ‘Norton’ tomato, which became one of the leading disease resistant tomato varieties, especially in the Eastern tomato growing regions, for some years. He resigned from the State Pathologist position in 1914 to devote all his time to teaching and other duties at the Experiment Station. He was the author of numerous publications and articles for magazines, newsletters and Bailey's Cyclopedia of American Horticulture, and was a member of many horticultural societies. He also served as secretary-treasurer of the Maryland Horticultural Society. He received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Maryland in 1923 and retired from teaching in 1942, holding the title of Professor emeritus until his death. After his retirement, Norton grew dahlias for sale and show at his Hyattsville home under the name Norton Gardens. (Photo credit: SaveSeeds.org)

nor'tonii/norton'ii: named for Andrea Massena Norton (1853-1930), a California plant collector who found a number of plants that were named by E.L. Greene. He was born at Lanesboro, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. He taught school at Gonzales from 1880 to about 1892 and was on the County Board of Education. Later he was a steamship company agent at Monterey. He learned botany from his friend and colleague John Bale Hickman. A very restricted Eriogonum of the Pinnacles region and Chorizanthe nortonii were two of his botanical discoveries.

norveg'ica: of or from Norway.

nota'tior: may be a variant of notatus, "marked, spotted, distinguished," and the -ior ending may connote some extension of an adjectival characteristic, like brevior, "shorter" or latior, "broader," which might give this the meaning of "more marked."

nota'tum/nota'tus: marked, spotted, from Latin noto, "to note or observe."

Nothocala'is: from the Greek nothos, "false or spurious," and Calais, a figure of Greek mythology who had scales on his back. The genus Nothocalais was published by Edward Lee Greene in 1886.

Nothochelo'ne: false Chelone. The genus Nothochelone was published by Richard M. Straw in 1966.

nothoful'vus: from the Greek notho, a word used to indicate close but not complete agreement, with an aspect of uncertainty or falseness, and fulvus, "tawny," so perhaps meaning something like "almost tawny (?)."

Notholae'na: from the Greek nothos, "false," and chlaina, "a cloak," an allusion to the incomplete indusium. The genus Notholaena was published by Robert Brown in 1810.

Notholithocarpus: from the Greek nothos, "false," and the genus name Lithocarpus. The genus Notholithocarpus was published by Paul S. Manos, Charles H. Cannon and Sang-Hun Oh in 2008.

Nothoscor'dum: from the Greek nothos, "false," and scordum, "garlic," the common name being false garlic. The genus Nothoscordum was published by Karl Sigismund Kunth in 1843.

notit'ius: well-known.

no'va: new

nov'ae-zeland'iae: from New Zealand.

novenmillen'sis: named for Nine Mile Canyon on the east slope of the southern Sierra Nevada, Inyo County, California.

Nowodwor'skya: named for Johann (Johannes, Joannes) Nowodworsky (1773-1811), Bohemian physician and botanist, professor at the Academy Gymnasium in Prague, author of Elenchus plantarum quae in horto illustriss. The genus Nowodworskya was published by Jan Svatopluk Presl in 1830.

nowosadii: named for Frank Samuel Nowosad (1907?-1968) of the Agrostology Division, Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa, Canada. He produced numerous publications including "Handbook for northern gardeners," "Annual crops for hay and pasture," "Use of annual forages," "Field roots," "An evaluation of vegetables grown in the eastern arctic region of Canada," "The effect of some commercial fertilizers on the botanical composition and yield of permanent pastures," and others, mostly under the auspices of the Canadian Agriculture Department.

nubig'ena/nubig'enum/nubig'enus: born among the clouds.

nucif'era: nut-bearing.

nu'da: naked, bare.

nuda'ta/nuda'tus: see nuda above.

nudicau'le/nudicau'lis: with a bare stem.

nudiflor'um/nudiflor'us: flowering before the leaves emerge.

nudius'cula: somewhat bare or naked.

nu'dum: bare, naked.

nummular'e: same as next entry.

nummular'ia: resembling a coin, nummus, often applied to plants with small, almost circular leaves.

Nu'phar: ultimately from the Persian word nufar which is a geographic location and a name for a water lily. Nufar was an ancient Sumerian settlement whose ruins lie at Nuffar in modern Iraq. Under various names it persisted as a settlement throughout the periods of Greek and Roman engagement in Babylonia. The genus Nuphar was published by James Edward Smith in 1809.

nu'tans: nodding or drooping, usually the flowers.

nutkaen'sis: see following entry.

nutka'na: of Nootka Sound, British Columbia.

Nuttall'anthus: see entry below. The genus Nuttallanthus was published by David Andrew Sutton in 1988.

Nuttal'lia: see entry below.

nuttall'iana/nuttallia'num/nuttallia'nus/nuttall'ii: named for the Englishman Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859), a botanist,

ornithologist, zoologist, curator of the Harvard Botanic Gardens, and author in 1816 of The Genera of North American Plants. In 1834 he ventured overland to Oregon with his friend Nathaniel Wyeth (see Wyethia), sailed twice to Hawaii, then visited California where he was recognized by a Harvard student who had taken up a sea-faring life, Richard Henry Dana, and who described Nuttall in Two Years Before the Mast. Although not well known in his native country, he was highly praised by the famed American botanist Asa Gray. He was born in Settle in the

Yorkshire Dales region of England, grew up in Blackburn, Lancashire, and spent some years as an apprentice printer for his uncle in Liverpool before going to London and then leaving for the United States at the age of 22, settling in Philadelphia where he met and first began to study botany with Professor Benjamin Smith Barton. He appears to have had little in the way of formal education but was clearly a man of intellect. He made trips through Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, Arkansas and the Great Lakes region collecting plants and identifying species. In 1811, being concerned about the threat of war between his native country and the United States, he went back to England to organize and curate the many specimens he had collected, returning to the U.S. in 1814. From 1818 to 1820 he travelled along the Arkansas and Red Rivers, finally returning to Philadelphia and publishing his Journal of Travels into the Arkansas Territory during the year 1819. His Genera of North American Plants appeared in 1818 and was based on the collections he made on these trips. He became a lecturer in natural history at Harvard University in 1822 and it was then that he became interested in ornithology. He was elected an Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1823 and became curator of the botanical gardens at Harvard University in 1825. The first volume of his Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and of Canada appeared in 1832. Wikipedia says: “In 1834 he resigned his post and set off west again on an expedition led by Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth, this time accompanied by the naturalist John Kirk Townsend. They travelled through Kansas, Wyoming and Utah, and then down the Snake River to the Columbia. Nuttall then sailed across the Pacific Ocean to the Hawaiian Islands in December. He returned in the spring of 1835 and spent the next year botanizing in the Pacific Northwest, an area already covered by David Douglas. On the Pacific coast, Nuttall heard of the ship Alert leaving San Diego in May 1836 and bound for Boston. It is here that he miraculously encounters Richard Henry Dana Jr., a former student of his at Harvard who had set sail from Boston on a two-year voyage to the California coast at about the same time that Nuttall had begun his expedition. Dana writes in his Two Years Before the Mast of his amazement at seeing his old professor 'strolling about San Diego beach, in a sailor's pea jacket, with a wide straw hat, and barefooted, with his trousers rolled up to his knees, picking up stones and shells.' Nuttall was taken on the Alert as a passenger along with many of his flora and fauna specimens which he brought back to Boston to be cataloged and preserved for posterity. Dana writes that he had some occasions to speak with Nuttall about his botanizing while Dana was at the helm of the ship 'on a calm night' and was amused to hear his fellow shipmates refer to Nuttall as 'Old Curious' for all the curiosities he conveyed on board.” He worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia from 1836 to 1841, making contributions to Asa Gray and John Torrey’s Flora of North America. He left America in 1841 and made only one more visit to the United States in 1847 and 1848. He lived in Lancashire until his death.

Nyctagina'ceae: from the Greek nyx or nyktos, "night," and New Latin -ago, a suffix that implies resemblance to the word that precedes it, this family name is based on the generic epithet Nyctago.

nyctagin'ea: night-blooming.

nyctaginifo'lia: with leaves like those of the four-o'clock family, Nyctaginaceae.

nymanii: named for Carl Fredrik Nyman (1820-1893), Swedish botanist born in Stockholm. From 1855 to 1899 he was the Curator of the botanical department and herbarium of the Naturhistorika Riksmuseum (the Swedish Museum of Natural History). He was a co-editor of Analecta Botanica. He published a number of books including Conspectus Florae Europaeae, Sylloge florae europaeae, Synopsis plantarum bicornium europaearum, and several others, and had two genera named in his honor.

Nymphae'a: from the Greek nymphaia, referring to a water nymph, which is appropriate because Nymphaea is a genus of aquatic plants. In Greek mythology, the nymphs were generally regarded as personifications of nature typically tied to a specific place or landform, and are usually depicted as maidens. They were not necessarily immortal, but lived much longer than human beings. The genus Nymphaea was published in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus who was found of taking names from mythology.

Nympho'ides: like genus Nymphaea. The genus Nymphoides was published by Jean François Séguier in 1754.