PA-PH

                   In the following names, the stressed vowel is the one preceding the stress mark. It is not always
                  easy to ascertain where such stress should be placed, especially in the case of epithets derived
                  from personal names. I have tried to follow the principle of maintaining the stress of the original
                  name as outlined in the Jepson Manual, and have abandoned it only when it was just too awkward.
                  In the case of some names, I have listed them twice, reflecting either some disagreement or conflict
                  in the rules of pronunciation, some uncertainty on my part as to the correct pronunciation, or simply
                  that sometimes there is no single correct pronunciation. In other instances, the way I record it is just
                  that which sounds right to my ear.

• pachy-: in compound words signifying "thick"
• pachyacan'tha: thick-spined (ref. Fagonia pachyacantha)
• pachycar'pa: with thick fruits (ref. Eleocharis pachycarpa)
• pachylep'is: from the Greek pachys, "thick," and lepis, "scale"
• pachyphyl'la/pachyphyl'lus: thick-leaved (ref. Phacelia pachyphylla, Salvia pachyphylla, Linanthus pachyphyllus)
• pachypo'da: with a thick foot or stalk (ref. Heuchera pachypoda)
• pach'ypus: thick-footed (or -stemmed) (ref. Astragalus pachypus)
• pachysta'chya/pachysta'chyus: with a thick spike of some kind (ref. Carex pachystachya, Orthocarpus pachystachyus)
• pachystig'ma: with a thick stigma (ref. Cardamine pachystigma)
• pacif'ica/pacif'icum/pacif'icus: from the Latin pacificus, meaning "peace-making, peacable," and from a botanic standpoint probably meaning "of the Pacific Ocean or the general Pacific area" (ref. Atriplex pacifica, Quercus pacifica, Zostera pacifica, Conioselinum pacificum, Juncus effusus var. pacificus, Leymus pacificus)
• Pack'era: named after botanist John G. Packer (1929- ), specialist on the flora of Alberta and on Arctic and alpine flora, instructor in the Department of Botany at the University of Alberta 1958-1988, co-author with Cheryl Bradley of Checklist of the rare vascular plants in Alberta (1984), one of the editors of the English edition of Flora of the Russian Arctic (2000), co-author with his wife of Some Common and Interesting Plants of San Miguel de Allende (Mexico). He also revised E.H. Moss's Flora of Alberta (1983), worked to protect Mountain Park in the Canadian Rockies from an open-pit coal mine, and is currently contributor and on the editorial committee for Flora of North America (ref. genus Packera)
• pa'dre-crow'leyi: after Father John Joseph Crowley (1891-1940), the Desert Padre, naturalist, conservationist, movie producer, storyteller and first priest to celebrate mass on the summit of Mt. Whitney. The following is quoted from one of Larry Blakely's superb articles in his Who's in a Name? series: "Though not a botanist, Crowley knew and loved the native plants of the mountains and deserts. In his writings, especially his weekly column "Sage and Tumbleweed" (which he wrote using the pseudonym Inyokel), he frequently referred to the plants that he admired on outings. He consulted the only book dedicated at that time to the desert regions, Coville's "Botany of the Death Valley Expedition", published in 1893; Crowley called it "the most complete survey of the flora of the valley extant". Father Crowley, the "Desert Padre", struggled mightily, and successfully, to enhance the economic base of the Eastern Sierra in the 1930s, primarily by publicizing it as a tourist mecca. Like Mary [DeDecker], he fought the City of Los Angeles over its water policies, to help the disheartened residents out of their depression over the City's depredations. His fatal auto accident occurred in 1940, when he was 48 years old. His legendary life and writings are lovingly presented in the 1997 book, "Desert Padre", by Joan Brooks. Prominent man-made features in the Eastern Sierra keep the Crowley name alive: Crowley Lake; the Father Crowley Viewpoint on the western approach to Death Valley National Park; a monument on Highway 14 where he met his death in his old Ford (which, it is said, he always drove too fast, hurrying to this or that secular or religious appointment in his vast Eastern Sierra parish); and, recently, a mural on a building in Bishop." And from the Catholic Online website: " John J. Crowley was born on Dec. 8, 1891, in County Kerry, Ireland. His family emigrated to Worcester in 1903. Crowley entered Holy Cross in 1911 and became an active participant in college life, contributing stories, essays and poems to The Purple and serving as the journal's editor in chief during his senior year. This literary flair would stay with him throughout his life as he wrote for various local and diocesan publications during his 22 years in California. After graduating from Holy Cross, he entered the seminary in Baltimore, Md., with a reference from Rev. Joseph N. Dinand, S.J. Ordained in 1918 in Fall River, Mass., he left shortly after for Los Angeles, borrowing 50 dollars from his bishop to purchase his train ticket to the coast. He served briefly in two parishes before he volunteered, in 1919, to serve in a parish located in the desert region of four different counties-Mono, Inyo, Kern and San Bernadino. His initial parish covered 30,000 square miles, an area equal in size to all of Ireland. His northernmost church was in Bishop, 200 miles from its southern counterpart in Barstow. And in those years, this remote area had few paved roads. Driving between his scattered parish meant bouncing over gravel and sand. The parish contained both the lowest spot in the United States, Death Valley, and the highest, Mount Whitney. In his first 16 months, Fr. Crowley put over 50,000 miles on his Model T Ford. Adapting quickly to his new environment, he kept a sleeping bag in his car for emergencies and donned the uniform that would be his trademark: riding boots, khaki riding pants and a khaki shirt under which he wore his clerical collar. After serving in this desert parish for five years, he became pastor of St. John's Cathedral, Fresno, in 1924. During this time, Fr. Crowley was instrumental in starting St. Columba's High School there; as part of a major diocesan fund-raiser, he arranged for Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig to appear in an exhibition baseball game. Ten years later, Fr. Crowley returned to Eastern Sierra County and the Owens Valley." It was what he found there that caused him to dedicate a large part of his life to saving the Owens Valley, all the while ministering to his parishioners in Lone Pine, Bishop and Death Valley. Part of his attempt to publicize the region was in the movies that were filmed in the Alabama Hills and the friendships he forged with the likes of Cary Grant and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. More from Catholic Online: "As part of his ongoing efforts to publicize the Eastern Sierra as an ideal tourist location, Fr. Crowley organized an extravaganza in October 1937. The three-day celebration entitled, "The Wedding of the Waters," commemorated the completion of a paved road from Death Valley to Whitney Portal, linking the lowest spot in the country to the highest-in the then 48-state nation. In a clever publicity move, Fr. Crowley filled a desert gourd with water from the highest lake in the country. The gourd was carried first by a Native American, then transported, on horseback, by one of the first men to climb Mount Whitney. Next it was taken in a stagecoach, driven by the descendant of an original stagecoach hand who was accompanied by the governor of California. The gourd was passed along to a covered-wagon driver who was a descendant of the ill-fated Donner Party, and then handed over to the engineer of a narrow-gauge railroad. After a short run on the rails, the gourd was passed to the driver of a new 1938 Lincoln Zephyr. At the end of this ride, President Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key that sent word of the celebration to the rest of the country. The Zephyr driver passed the gourd to a World War I combat pilot who flew to Death Valley where the gourd was emptied into Bad Water Sink, the lowest body of water in America. "The Wedding of the Waters" was featured in papers across the nation, bringing the publicity Fr. Crowley had sought. Recently, the Public Broadcasting Company's Los Angeles affiliate sponsored a reenactment of the ceremony. The widow of Hopalong Cassidy was present for the activities." He was killed in 1940 when he car struck a steer on the road and collided with an oncoming truck. Father Crowley no doubt is in the very top ranks of the truly monumental characters of the Eastern Sierras and Owens Valley region (ref. Lupinus padre-crowleyi)
• Paeo'nia: honors Paeon, the physician of the gods in Homer's Iliad who used the plant to heal the wound that Hercules inflicted on Pluto (ref. genus Paeonia)
• pahuten'sis: named for Pahute Mesa in Nye County, Nevada, this taxon is rare in California, but may be found occasionally in the Grape vine Mountains (ref. Penstemon pahutensis)
• pajaroen'sis: of or from the area of the Pajaro Hills and/or Pajaro Valley near Monterey (ref. Arctostaphylos pajaroensis)
• palaesti'num: of Palestine. This is the black calla lily from the Middle East (ref. Arum palaestinum)
• Palafox'ia: named after José Rebolledo de Palafox y Melzi (1776-1847), Duke of Saragossa, Spanish government official, general, defender against the armies of Napoleon, briefly Archbishop of Mexico, Viceroy of New Spain, book collector and author. "Don José de Palafox y Melzi, Duke of Saragossa, the youngest son of an old Aragonese family, was a Spanish general and hero of the Peninsular War. Brought up at the Spanish court, he entered the guards at an early age, and in 1808 as a sub-lieutenant accompanied King Ferdinand VII of Spain to Bayonne; but after vainly attempting, in company with others, to secure Ferdinand's escape, he fled to Spain, and after a short period of retirement placed himself at the head of the patriot movement in Aragon. He was proclaimed by the populace Governor of Saragossa and Captain-general of Aragon (May 25, 1808). Despite the want of money and of regular troops, he lost no time in declaring war against the French, who had already overrun the neighboring provinces of Catalonia and Navarre, and soon afterwards the attack he had provoked began. Saragossa as a fortress was both antiquated in design and scantily provided with munitions and supplies, and the defences resisted but a short time. But it was at that point that the real resistance began. A week's street fighting made the assailants masters of half the town, but Palafox's brother succeeded in forcing a passage into the city with 3000 troops. Stimulated by the appeals of Palafox and of the fierce and resolute demagogues who ruled the mob, the inhabitants resolved to contest possession of the remaining quarters of Saragossa inch by inch, and if necessary to retire to the suburb across the Ebro, destroying the bridge. The struggle, which was prolonged for nine days longer, resulted in the withdrawal of the French (Aug. 14), after a siege which had lasted 61 days in all. Palafox then attempted a short campaign in the open country, but when Napoleon's own army entered Spain, and destroyed one hostile army after another in a few weeks, Palafox was forced back into Saragossa, where he sustained a still more memorable second siege. This ended, after three months, in the fall of the town, or rather the cessation of resistance, for the town was in ruins and a pestilence had swept away many thousands of the defenders. Palafox himself, suffering from the epidemic, fell into the hands of the French and was kept prisoner at Vincennes until December 1813. In June 1814 he was confirmed in the office of Captain General of Aragon, but soon afterwards withdrew from it, and ceased to take part in public affairs. From 1820 to 1823 he commanded the royal guard of King Ferdinand, but, taking the side of the Constitution in the civil troubles which followed, he was stripped of all his honors and offices by the king, whose restoration by French bayonets was the triumph of reaction and absolutism. Parafox remained in retirement for many years. He received the title of Duke of Saragossa from Queen Maria Christine. From 1836 he took part in military and political affairs as Captain-general of Aragon and a senator." (Quoted from Wikipedia)     The above information notwithstanding, David Hollombe has brought up another interesting possibility. Apparently the name Palafoxia was published by Mariano de la Gasca (aka Mariano Lagasca) in 1816 in his Genera et Species Plantarum but he did not explain the etymology. A work entitled "Le Récit Par Augustin Pyramus de Candolle de l'Élaboration de la Flore du Mexique, Dite Aussi des Dames de Genéve" by Hervé M. Burdet suggests that the name originally commemorated Juan de Palafox y Mendoza (1600-1659), who was a bishop and founder of the University of Mexico. The other Palafox is listed by Miguel Colmeiro y Penido in his La botánica y los botánicos de la península hispano-lusitana published in Madrid in 1858. The suggestion is that the name was originally given for Palafox y Mendoza, but because the other Palafox became a national hero, the attribution was transferred to him. Obviously this is still a matter of uncertainty (ref. genus Palafoxia)
• palea'ceum: like straw or chaff
• pal'lens: pale (ref. Agrostis pallens)
• palles'cens: rather pale or becoming pale (ref. Delphinium hesperium ssp. pallescens)
• pal'lida/pal'lidum/pal'lidus: pale (ref. Amelanchier pallida, Camissonia pallida, Hemizonia pallida, Poa cusickii ssp. pallida, Torreyochloa pallida, Lycium pallidum, Lupinus pallidus)
• pallidefus'ca: from the Latin pallide, "pale," an adverb modifying the Latin adjective fusca, "dark or dusky brown" (ref. Setaria pumila ssp. pallidefusca)
• pallidiflor'a: with pale-colored flowers
• pallid'ipes: from the Latin pallidus, pallide, "pale," and the -pes suffix which relates to stalks, thus with a pale or pallid stalk? (ref. Lupinus polyphyllus var. pallidipes)
• pallid'ula/pallid'ulus: somewhat pale (ref. Camissonia brevipes ssp. pallidula)
• pal'lidum: ashen, pale, wan (ref. Delphinium parishii ssp. pallidum)
• palma'ta: lobed like a hand (ref. Cucurbita palmata, Ficus palmata)
• palm'eri/palmeria'num: after self-taught botanist, professional plant collector and amateur zoologist, archaeologist and ethnologist Edward Palmer (1829/1830?-1911). Born in England, he "emigrated to the United States [in 1849] at the age of eighteen. He developed an interest in natural history collecting under the tutelage of Dr. Jared Kirtland and got his first major opportunity to collect when he was appointed to Captain Page's Water Witch expedition to Paraguay as hospital steward and botanical collector in 1853. After the Paraguay expedition he went to England to visit his mother, got married on March 29, 1856, and came back to the U.S. He studied medicine for a few months in Cleveland; then he lived in Kansas, Colorado, and for a few months, California, where he worked on the Geological Survey of California, collecting marine invertebrates. During the Civil War, he did medical work in army outposts in the southwest for a while after the war. He managed to make natural history collections while working for the army. The rest of his life was mostly taken up with making archaeological, zoological and botanical collections for a variety of patrons, primarily in the southwestern U.S. and Mexico. He is best known for his botanical collections, which are said to number over 100,00 specimens. He made numerous botanical collecting trips to Mexico from 1878 to 1910. Rogers McVaugh describes Palmer's botanical specimens as "exceptionally well documented for his time," a trait which was obscured by the fact that his field notes were not distributed with his plants." (From a website of the Library of the Gray Herbarium). Palmer was not a professional botanist or biologist. He made a living wandering throughout the western states and Mexico, collecting plant and animal specimens of all kinds that he sold to museums in the United States and England. He also collected specimens in Florida and Baja. Other better known naturalists like Spencer Baird, George Engelmann, John Torrey, and Charles Parry often hired him to collect for them. He was the first to call attention to the boll weevil that ultimately caused $5 billion in damage to the American South's cotton crops 50 years later. He worked for the Department of Agriculture, the Smithsonian Institute and the Army Medical Museum. In 1891 he led an expedition exploring the flora and fauna of California and Death Valley. Funded by the Peabody Museum at Harvard in 1880, he investigated and retrieved objects from burial caves known to be in the region of Coahuila, Mexico. In 1890 while exploring the southernmost coast of Sonora, he was afflicted by spells of "intermittent fever" (which he probably contracted on the coast, for the coastal swamps supported hordes of blood-sucking insects), but he still managed to add 124 specimens to his collection.  He suffered personal and professional tragedies such as the death of his young bride from yellow fever, and the losses of several of his collections.  After his death his field notes sat neglected on a shelf for more than fifty years.  He did however have two hundred species named after him, and Professor Asa Gray named a genus, Palmerella, in his honor. The genus Malperia was apparently also named for him, according to Umberto Quattrocchi. He was perhaps one of the most productive amateur botanists ever to collect a plant (ref. Abutilon palmeri, Alternanthera palmeri, Amaranthus palmeri, Artemisia palmeri, Astragalus palmeri, Calochortus palmeri var. munzii, Calochortus palmeri var. palmeri, Camissonia palmeri, Ceanothus palmeri, Ericameria [formerly Haplopappus] palmeri, Euphorbia palmeri, Frankenia palmeri, Harpagonella palmeri, Lesquerella palmeri, Lupinus palmeri, Malacothamnus palmeri, Mimulus palmeri, Penstemon palmeri, Quercus palmeri, Tiquilia [formerly Coldenia] palmeri, Trifolium palmeri, Eriogonum palmerianum)
• pal'meri: after Ernest Jesse Palmer (1875-1962).  "[He] was born in Leicester, England on April 8, 1875, the son of Amos and Annie Palmer.  The Palmers came to the United States in 1878, temporarily settling near Warrensburg, Missouri.  Drawn by promises of wealth in the mining industry, Amos Palmer relocated the family to Webb City, Missouri when Ernest Jesse Palmer was fourteen years old.  The perspective wealth proved out of the Palmer Family's grasp and Palmer's formal education was cut short when the physical collapse of his father forced him to drop out of high school to seek employment.  A life-long education enthusiast, much of Palmer's extensive knowledge in Latin, natural sciences, English literature, mathematics, economics, and poetry is presumed to have been self-obtained.  In 1913, after many years of collection and study in his local region, Palmer began collecting for the Missouri Botanical Garden.  Two years later, he began his lengthy association with Charles Sprague Sargent and the Arnold Arboretum (1921-1948), also as a collector.  Sargent offered him a formal position assisting at the Arboretum's Herbarium in 1921.  During his lengthy career at the Arboretum, Palmer produced several publications to his credit, including Spontaneous Flora of the Arnold Arboretum (1930), which describes flora that appeared in the Arboretum naturally and without cultivation, and Food Plants in the Arnold Arboretum (1944).  Palmer was also instrumental in the Arnold Arboretum's collection of early Amerindian artifacts, which were found while searching the soil of beds that were being prepared for shrub or tree plots.  Upon his retirement, Palmer left the collection in the care of Alfred J. Fordham.  This collection was later used by Peabody Museum Assistant Curator and Fellow Dena Ferran Dincauze as evidence of prehistoric conditions in the Boston area.  In 1930, at the age of 55, much to the surprise of those who knew him, the presumed hard-bitten bachelor Palmer married Elizabeth McDougal, a bacteriologist at the Massachusetts State Laboratory.  The couple lived in a house owned by the Arboretum, which was located at 1090 Centre Street in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.  Palmer and his wife had three children: Ernest MacDougal Palmer (b. 1931), Grace Elizabeth Palmer (b. 1932), and Theodore Windle Palmer (b. 1935).  Palmer retired in 1947, and in 1948, he returned to Webb City, Missouri where he worked in his garden and published a book of poetry, Gathered Leaves; Green, Gold and Sere, in 1958.  He died on February 25, 1962 at 87 years of age." (From an Arnold Arboretum Archives website)  The Herbarium at the University of Missouri in Columbia has been renamed the Dunn-Palmer Herbarium partly in his honor and for David Baxter Dunn, longtime Curator at UMO, where Palmer's thousands of specimens are housed (ref. Ficus palmeri)
• palm'ifrons: with leaves that look like palm fronds (ref. Ipomopsis congesta ssp. palmifrons)
• paludico'la: dwelling in marshes (ref. Arenaria paludicola)
• paludo'sa: marsh-loving (ref. Pulicaria paludosa)
• palus'tre/palus'tris: growing in marshes (ref. Gnaphalium palustre, Ludwigia palustris, Parnassia palustris, Poa palustris, Rorippa palustris var. occidentalis, Scheuchzeria palustris, Zannichellia palustris, Zizania palustris)
• panaminten'se/panaminten'sis: of the Panamint Mountains (ref. Eriogonum panamintense, Astragalus panamintensis, Cymopterus panamintensis)
• Pancra'tium: from pankration, an old Greek name for some bulbous plant, from pan, "all," and kratus, "strong, mighty," in reference to its supposed medicinal properties (ref. genus Pancratium)
• pandurifor'me: from the Latin pandura, a three-stringed musical instrument supposedly invented by Pan, and forme, indicating shape or resemblance, thus "fiddle-shaped" (ref. Pelargonium panduriforme)
• panicula'ta/panicula'tum/panicula'tus: with the flowers in panicles (ref. Hemizonia paniculata, Epilobium paniculatum, Chrysothamnus paniculatus, Juncus phaeocephalus var. paniculatus)
• Pan'icum: from a classical Latin name for millet (ref. genus Panicum)
• pannon'ica: of the Roman province Pannonia, an area which covers parts of present-day Austria, Hungary and Yugoslavia (ref. Vicia pannonica)
• panno'sa: felt-like (ref. Cotoneaster pannosa)
• pan'sa: from the Latin pansus, "expanded, stretched open" (ref. Carex pansa)
• Papa'ver: the classical Latin name for the poppy (ref. genus Papaver)
• papilla'ta/papilla'tus: same meaning as the next entry (ref. Cuscuta salina var. papillata, Penstemon papillatus)
• papillo'sa/papillo'sus: having papillae, i.e. soft protuberances on a surface (ref. Cuscuta californica var. papillosa, Ceanothus papillosus)
• pappo'sa: from the Latin for "with pappus" (ref. Dyssodia papposa, Pectis papposa)
• papy'rus: the pith of this plant was used to make rolls of paper in ancient Egypt and the Greek name was papyros (ref. Cyperus papyrus)
• para-: Greek prefix meaning "beside, alongside, close by"
• paradi'sa/paradi'sum: from the Latin paradisus which is derived from the Greek paradeisos, "a park or paradise" (ref. Descurainia paradisa, Sedum paradisum)
• paradox'a: unusual, paradoxical (ref. Acacia paradoxa, Fallugia paradoxa, Phalaris paradoxa)
• parali'num: from the Greek paralos, "maritime," sometimes used with the sense of "blue like the sea" (ref. Eriogonum nudum var. paralinum)
• Paraph'olis: from the Greek para, "near, beside, near to," and the genus Pholiurus, which derives from pholis or pholidos, "scale, horny scale" (ref. genus Parapholis)
• pardal'inum: related to leopards, spotted like a leopard (ref. Lilium pardalinum)
• Parentucel'lia: after Tomaso Parentucelli (1397-1455), born to a poor physician in the Italian region of Liguria, early Renaissance librarian to Cosimo de' Medici in Florence, teacher, diplomat and clergyman who rose first to the Bishopric and then became Pope Nicholas V, restorer of Rome's city fortifications, churches and aqueducts, called the Humanist Pope, and known best perhaps because of his establishment of the Vatican Library and gardens. The following is quoted from Wikipedia: "Pope Nicholas V, born Tomaso Parentucelli, was Pope from March 6, 1447, to his death. He was born at Sarzana, Liguria, where his father was a physician. His father died while he was young, but in Florence, Parentucelli became a tutor in the families of the Strozzi and Albizzi, where he made the acquaintance of the leading humanist scholars. He studied at Bologna, gaining a degree in theology in 1422, whereupon the bishop, Nicholas Albergati, was so much struck with his capacities that he took him into his service and gave him the chance to pursue his studies further, by sending him on a tour through Germany, France and England. He was able to collect books, for which he had an intellectual's passion, wherever he went. Some of them survive, with his marginal annotations. He distinguished himself at the Council of Florence, and in 1444, when his patron died, he was appointed bishop of Bologna in his place. Civic disorders at Bologna were prolonged, so Pope Eugene IV (1431–47) soon named him as one of the legates sent to Frankfurt to negotiate an understanding between the Holy See and the Holy Roman Empire, with regard to undercutting or at least containing the reforming decrees of the Council of Basel. His successful diplomacy gained him the reward, on his return to Rome, of the title of Cardinal priest of Santa Susanna (December 1446). He was elected Pope in succession to Eugene IV on 6 March of the following year, taking the name of Nicholas V in honour of his early benefactor.
       The eight scant years of his pontificate were important in the political, scientific and literary history of the world. Politically, he made the Concordat of Vienna, or Aschaffenburg (February 17, 1448) with the German King, Frederick III (1440–93), by which the decrees of the Council of Basel against papal annates and reservations were abrogated so far as Germany was concerned; and in the following year he secured a still greater tactical triumph, when the resignation of the antipope Felix V (1439–49) (7 April) and his own recognition by the rump of the council of Basel (1431–39), assembled at Lausanne, put an end to the Western Schism (1378–1417). The next year, 1450, Nicholas V held a jubilee at Rome; and the offerings of the numerous pilgrims who thronged to Rome gave him the means of furthering the cause of culture in Italy, which he had so much at heart. In March 1452 he crowned Frederick III as Emperor in St. Peter's, the last occasion of the coronation of an Emperor at Rome. Within the city of Rome, Nicholas V introduced the fresh spirit of the Renaissance. His plans were of embellishing the city with new monuments worthy of the capital of the Christian world. His first care was practical, to reinforce the city's fortifications, cleaning and even paving some main streets and restoring the water supply. The end of ancient Rome is sometimes dated from the destruction of its magnificent array of aqueducts by 6th century invaders. In the Middle Ages Romans depended for water on wells and cisterns, and the poor dipped their water from the yellow Tiber. The Aqua Virgo aqueduct, originally constructed by Agrippa, was restored by Pope Nicholas V, and emptied into a simple basin that Leon Battista Alberti designed, the predecessor of the Trevi Fountain.
       But the works on which he especially set his heart were the rebuilding of the Vatican and the Borgo district, and St Peter's Basilica, where the reborn glories of the papacy were to be focused. He got as far as pulling down part of the ancient basilica, and made some alterations to the Lateran Palace (of which some frescos by Fra Angelico bear witness). Under the generous patronage of Nicholas V, humanism made rapid strides as well. The new humanist learning had been looked on with suspicion in Rome, a possible source of schism and heresy, an unhealthy interest in paganism. Nicholas V instead employed Lorenzo Valla as a notary and kept hundreds (confirm; this seems high) of copyists and scholars, with the special aim of wholesale translations of Greek works, pagan as well as Christian, into Latin, giving as much as ten thousand gulden for a metrical translation of Homer. This industry, coming just before the dawn of printing, contributed enormously to the sudden expansion of the intellectual horizon. Nicholas V founded a library of nine thousand volumes. The Pope himself was a man of vast erudition, and his friend Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, later Pope Pius II (1458–64), said of him that 'what he does not know is outside the range of human knowledge.
       He was compelled, however, to add that the lustre of his pontificate would be forever dulled by the fall of Constantinople, which the Turks took in 1453. The Pope bitterly felt this catastrophe as a double blow to Christendom and to Greek letters. 'It is a second death,' wrote Aeneas Silvius, 'to Homer and Plato'. Nicholas V preached a crusade, and endeavoured to reconcile the mutual animosities of the Italian states, but without much success. He did not live long enough to see the effect of the Greek scholars armed with unimagined manuscripts, who began to find their way to Italy. In undertaking these works Nicholas V was moved 'to strengthen the weak faith of the populace by the greatness of that which it sees'. The Roman populace, however, appreciated neither his motives nor their results, and in 1452 a formidable conspiracy for the overthrow of the papal government, under the leadership of Stefano Porcaro, was discovered and crushed. This revelation of disaffection, together with the fall of Constantinople, darkened the last years of Pope Nicholas V; "As Thomas of Sarzana," he said, 'I had more happiness in a day than now in a whole year'." (ref. genus Parentucellia)
• Parietar'ia: derives from the Latin parietarius, "of walls," which descends from Greek paries, "a wall," where the plant likes to grow, as Pliny knew when he described it (ref. genus Parietaria)
• Parishel'la: see entry below (ref. genus Parishella)
• par'ishii/parish'ii: after brothers Samuel Bonsall Parish (1838-1928) and William Fletcher Parish (1840-1918), both botanical collectors who lived on a ranch in San Bernardino, California and made extensive exploring trips through the mountains and deserts. Samuel was the more devoted of the two and corresponded with and was on very familiar terms with many of the leading botanists of his day. David Hollombe provides the following: "William served in the Civil War as a sergeant and later sergeant-major in company C, 15th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry. The Daniel Parish family is listed in the 1840 census at Westfield, Richmond County, NY. William is alone at Morris Township, Morris County, NJ, in 1860 and at Branch twp., Stanislaus County, CA, in 1870. He is registered at San Bernardino up to 1890, and at Long Beach in 1892. He was in Chester, PA, in 1898 and 1900, staying with Dr. Daniel Parish Maddux (his half-sister's son, who served on the local Board of U. S. Pension Examiners). By 1906 he was living at Redondo, and later in Hermosa Beach."
  (ref. Acanthoschyphus [formerly Oxytheca] parishii, Achnatherum parishii, Allium parishii, Arabis parishii, Atriplex parishii, Chaenactis parishii, Chamaesyce parishii, Cheilanthes parishii, Delphinium parishii ssp. pallidum, Delphinium parishii ssp. parishii, Ericameria [formerly Haplopappus] parishii, Erigeron parishii, Eriogonum parishii, Eschscholzia parishii, Galium parishii, Heuchera parishii, Lycium parishii, Malacothamnus parishii, Mimulus parishii, Opuntia parishii, Orobanche parishii ssp. brachyloba, Orobanche parishii ssp. parishii, Perideridia parishii, Phacelia parishii, Plagiobothrys parishii, Puccinellia parishii, Silene parishii, Solanum parishii, Symphoricarpos parishii, Tauschia parishii, Trichostema parishii, Viguiera parishii)
• parisien'se: of or from Paris (ref. Galium parisiense)
• park'eri: after Joseph Chamberland Parker (1834-1910). Thanks to David Hollombe for providing the following information: "He was a photographer, not a painter. He was born in Cincinnati but his family moved to Peoria in 1836. He became a professional photographer in 1857, moving to Pekin, Illinois in 1862 and coming to California in 1872. In 1873 he settled at San Diego and remained there through 1892. His son, Wallace Brown Parker, joined him in his business, and Wallace is listed in Los Angeles city directories from 1892 to 1899. The 1900 census shows them in Tucson, and they moved to Los Angeles just 8 months before Joseph's death. Parker, along with lawyer George N. Hitchcock, also collected the type specimen of Agave shawii, following Parry's notes from the boundary survey, sending the specimens, along with photographs, to [George] Engelmann. Engelmann had named the cactus for Parker, but did not publish the name. 12 years after Engelmann's death, J.M. Coulter published it but, not being familiar with J.C. Parker, indicated that it had been collected by C.F. Parker. The other Parker (Charles) was a bookbinder in Camden, NJ, who made himself useful at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and was elected a member in 1865, a curator in 1874 and eventually "curator-in-charge" of the Academy. He was one of the founders of the conchological and botanical sections and was also interested in entomology." (ref. Cylindro-
  puntia californica var. parkeri)
• Parkinson'ia: named after John Parkinson (1567-1650), Apothecary of London and king's herbalist to James I, author in 1629 of Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris or A Garden of all sorts of pleasant, flowers which our English ayre will permitt to be noursed vp: with A Kitchen garden of all manner of herbes, rootes & fruites, for meate or sause vsed with vs, and An Orchard of all sorte of fruitbearing Trees and shrubbes fit for our Land together With the right orderinge planting & preseruing of them and their vses & vertues, in 1640 of Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants covering some 3,800 plants, and in 1659 of Paradisi in sole paradisvs terrestris : Or, A choise garden of all sorts of rarest flowers, with their nature, place of birth, time of flowring, names, and vertues to each plant, useful in physick, or admired for beauty. To which is annext a kitchin-garden furnished with all manner of herbs, roots, and fruits, for meat or sawce used with us. With the art of planting an orchard of all sorts of fruit-bearing trees and shrubs, shewing the nature of grafting, inoculating, and pruning of them. Together with the right ordering, planting and preserving of them, with their select vertues: all unmentioned in former herbals. Parkinson was a leading figure in the European botanical renaissance and Thomas Johnson is said to have gathered seeds at his famous garden in Long Acre, London.(ref. genus Parkinsonia)
• Parnas'sia: named for Mt. Parnassus of Greece, of uncertain application (ref. genus Parnassia)
• Parony'chia: from the Greek paronychia, "a whitlow," which is a painful infection of the finger, especially beneath the nail, derived in turn from para, "near," and onyx, "nail." One of the common names for Paronychia is whitlow-wort, an herb thought to be a cure for whitlow (ref. genus Paronychia, also Polygonum paronychia)
• Paro'sela: an anagram of the name Psoralea (ref. former genus Parosela, now renamed Dalea)
• par'qui: ??? (ref. Cestrum parqui)
• par'ryae: after Emily Richmond Preston Parry (1821-1915), second wife of Dr. C.C. Parry (ref. Linanthus parryae)
• par'ryi/parrya'na: named for Dr. Charles Christopher Parry (1823-1890), an English-born American botanist and botanical collector with the Pacific Railway Survey who visited the Southwestern mountains and deserts many times and is remembered in the names of more than a score of California native plants.  During his long career, he became the trusted colleague of many major naturalists such as John Torrey, Asa Gray, George Engelmann, John Muir, Charles Wright, Edward Green, Edward Palmer, John G. Lemmon, and Sir Joseph Hooker, son of William Hooker and like his father the Director of Kew Gardens in London.  He was a member of both the Mexican Boundary Survey and the Pacific Railway Survey, but he was better at discovering new species than at describing them.  One of his most beautiful finds was Lilium parryi, the lemon lily.  Few American botanists have covered as much and as many different areas as he did (ref. Allium parryi, Atriplex parryi, Calycoseris parryi, Calyptridium parryi, Chamaesyce parryi, Cheilanthes parryi, Chorizanthe parryi var. fernandina, Chrysothamnus parryi ssp. asper, Collinsia parryi, Delphinium parryi, Eremalche parryi, Jepsonia parryi, Lilium parryi, Lomatium parryi, Nolina parryi, Notholaena parryi, Opuntia parryi, Phacelia parryi, Polygonum parryi, Stephanomeria parryi, Swertia [formerly Frasera] parryi, Turricula parryi, Ziziphus parryi, Arctostaphylos parryana)
• parthen'ium: from the classical Greek name parthenion for a plant related to Matricaria (ref. Tanacetum parthenium)
• Parthenocis'sus: from the Greek parthenos, "a virgin," and kissos, "ivy," a genus whose common name is woodbine or virginia creeper, Virginia having been named after England's virgin queen Elizabeth I (ref. genus Parthenocissus)
• par'va/par'vum: small (ref. Dudleya abramsii ssp. parva, Allium parvum)
• parviflor'a/parviflor'um/parviflor'us: from the Greek parvus, "small," and flora, "flower," hence "small-flowered" (ref. Claytonia parviflora, Cleomella parviflora, Collinsia parviflora, Eriogonum parviflora, Fumaria parviflora, Galinsoga parviflora, Gaura parviflora, Kallstroemia parviflora, Malva parviflora, Petunia parviflora, Proboscidea parviflora, Tamarix parviflora, Chlorogalum parviflorum, Lithophragma parviflorum, Cordylanthus parviflorus, Rubus parviflorus, Samolus parviflorus)
• parvicapita'tum: small-headed (ref. Chenopodium capitatum var. parvicapitatum)
• parvifo'lia/parvifo'lium: small-leaved (ref. Krameria parvifolia, Matelea parvifolia, Sphaeralcea parvifolia, Ulmus parvifolia, Eriogonum parvifolium)
• parvilo'ba: small-lobed (ref. Navarretia hamata ssp. parviloba)
• Parvise'dum: from the Latin for "small Sedum" (ref. genus Parvisedum)
• par'vula/par'vulum/par'vulus: somewhat small (ref. Eleocharis parvula, Gymnosteris parvula, Quercus parvula, Abutilon parvulum, Penstemon parvulus)
• par'vum: small (ref. Lilium parvum)
• Pascopy'rum: an unusual combination of Latin pasco, "to feed, pasture" and Greek pyros, "grain, wheat" (ref. genus Pascopyrum)
• Pas'palum: from the Greek paspalos for "millet" (ref. genus Paspalum)
• Passiflor'a: from the Latin passio, "passion," and flos, "flower." The name was given because the plant parts seemed to represent aspects of Christ: the corona was the crown of thorns, the five stamens were the five wounds, the three styles three nails, and the ten petal-like parts the ten faithful apostles (ref. genus Passiflora)
• Pastina'ca: one source says from the Latin pastino, " to prepare the ground for planting," while another says from the Latin pastus, "food." This was the ancient name of the parsnip and may give a clue as to the origin of the Italian word pasta (ref. genus Pastinaca)
• patagon'ica/patagon'icum: of or from Patagonia, a region in Chile and Argentina (ref. Plantago patagonica, Chenopodium carnosulum var. patagonicum)
• pa'tens: spreading (ref. Delphinium patens ssp. hepaticoideum, Juncus patens, Spartina patens)
• patellar'is: dish- or saucer-shaped
• patellif'era: presumably bearing some structure or other that is dish-shaped (ref. Ivesia patellifera, Potentilla patellifera)
• pattersonen'sis: the -ensis suffix is usually used to indicate a geographical location, and thanks to David Hollombe, we have the following: "Vol. 4 of Abrams Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States gives the type locality of Senecio patersonensis as Mount Patterson, Mono county. Mt. Patterson is in the Sweetwater Mountains, north of Bridgeport" (ref. Senecio pattersonensis)
• patterson'ii: after Harry Norton Patterson (1853-1919) The following is quoted from Al Schneider's excellent website on SW Colorado wildflowers: "Illinois newspaper publisher and amateur botanist who visited Colorado often. Corresponded with Edgar Allen Poe about his financing Poe's longed for literary magazine the "Stylus", but Poe died of alcohol poisoning before the two could work out the publishing details. Patterson was a correspondent with prominent American botanists of the time. His botanical collections are housed in a number of herbariums around the United States. He printed botanical labels for many collectors. In 1892 he produced Patterson's Numbered Check-list of North American Plants North of Mexico." (ref. Poa pattersonii)
• pat'ula/pat'ulum: somewhat spreading (ref. Arctostaphylos patula, Atriplex patula, Tagetes patula, Polygonum patulum)
• paucidenta'ta: from the Latin meaning "few-toothed" (ref. Stillingia paucidentata)
• pauciflor'a/pauciflor'um/pauciflor'us: few-flowered (ref. Clematis pauciflora, Muhlenbergia pauciflora, Stephanomeria pauciflora, Phoradendron pauciflorum, Lathyrus pauciflorus [now renamed L. brownii], Senecio pauciflorus)
• paucifo'lia: with little foliage, literally "few-leaved"
• pauciradia'ta: from the Latin for "few-rayed" [Compare pleniradiata] (ref. Baileya pauciradiata)
• paul'senii/paulsen'ii: after Ove Paulsen (1874-1947), Danish botanist, Curator at the Botanical Museum of the University of Copenhagen 1905-18, and head of the Museum 1918-20. Paulsen was a Professor of botany at the Danish College of Pharmacy 1920-47. He studied the Danish flora, plankton of the North Atlantic, and the flora of Central Asia. He participated in marine biological expeditions with the ship "Fyen" to the West Indies in 1898-99, with "Dana" 1928, and with "Thor" 1903-06 and 1908-09, and was on expeditions to Northern Persia and Pamir in 1989-99. He was one of the visiting European scientists who joined the International Phytogeographic Excursion for all or part of its route across the United States. Along with Jacob Peter Jacobsen of the Danish Hydrographic Laboratory, Dr. Paulsen in 1910 devised an apparatus for the measurement of plankton in a water sample. This instrument was easier to use and less subject to "operator" error than the preceding model (ref. Salsola paulsenii)
• pauper'culus: somewhat poor (ref. Astragalus pauperculus)
• Paxisti'ma: from the Greek pachys, "thick, stout," and stigma, "stigma" (ref. genus Paxistima)
• payne'i: after Theodore Payne (1872-1963). "Theodore Payne was born in Northampton-shire, England and served an apprenticeship in horticulture. He came to Los Angeles in 1893 and fell in love with the California flora, dedicating his life to its preservation. Even in the early years of this century, native vegetation was being lost to agriculture and housing at an alarming rate. He urged the use of California native plants and lectured across the state on preserving the wild flowers and landscapes native to California. In his own nursery and seed business, which he started in 1903, native wildflowers and landscapes were his specialty. In 1915 he laid out and planted 262 species in a five-acre wild garden in Los Angeles' Exposition Park. He later helped to establish the Blaksley Botanic Garden in Santa Barbara, planted 178 native species in the California Institute of Technology Botanic Garden in Pasadena, helped create the native plant garden at Los Angeles' Descanso Gardens, and advised the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Orange County. By the time he retired in 1958, Payne had made over 400 species of native plants available to the public." (From the website of the Theodore Payne Foundation).  "Theodore Payne was just 21 when he arrived at Modjeska Ranch in 1893. He had come from England and ended up in Santa Ana at a seed store when he heard of the need for a gardener for the great actress on her ranch in Santiago Canyon. He decided to take the position even though he had been told it was a wild place. Since he did not know exactly what he had gotten himself into he purchased a hand gun and set out for El Toro on the Train. Years later, in 1962, he was to write his memoirs in Life on the Modjeska Ranch in the Gay Nineties and speaks of the Ranch in terms of endearment. He spoke of Arden as a fascinating place with such lovable people to be associated with. Besides the natural beauty of the scene, he said the whole air seemed charged with gaiety and romance. He stated sometimes he wondered if it were not all just a beautiful dream. This wonderful little book is out of print at the present time and the copyright is owned by the Theodore Payne Foundation. The Helena Modjeska Foundation is in touch with them to see if it would be possible for this to be reprinted. In the meantime, you will find it in all the local libraries. [Used copies are available by doing a book search at abebooks.com] Matilija poppies were growing in this area when Mr. Payne lived on the Ranch. He tried valiantly to grow them at the request of Mr. Bozenta, as he called him. He was not successful and it wasn't until later that he learned if he had burned some straw or dried grass over the ground, he would have been successful in germinating the seed.. The poppy fascinated him, and in later years he collected the seed for exporting to Europe." (From website at http://www.canyonlife.com/STORY2.HTM).  In Theodore Payne's own words: "I was born at Manor Farm., Church Brampton, Northamptonshire, England, June 19, 1872, being the fifth of a family of six boys. My father died when I was less than three years old, so I do not remember much about him, but he and my mother had planned and planted a very beautiful garden. As a child I was passionately fond of flowers; I always found the first primroses to bloom in the spring. I knew all the haunts of the wild flowers in the neighborhood. My mother was fond of flowers and had studied botany; she taught me the names of the plants. I used to collect seeds of the different flowers in the garden and put them in packets for friends. I had my own little garden in which I worked and took a great deal of pride. So it became generally understood while I was still quite young, that when I grew up I would be a horticulturist. My early education was at home. We had one small room set aside as the school room, and a governess came in every day to teach us. The first one was Miss Tarry who came from a neighboring village. She did not have much success with me, I did not want to learn, I would much rather work in my garden or play out in the farm yard. She almost gave me up as hopeless. Then she left and Miss Warren took her place. We got along well, and I began to make some progress. My mother died when I was eleven years old and when I was twelve I was sent to Ackworth School in Yorkshire. It was Quaker boarding school and the school where my older brothers and also my father had gone before me. At Ackworth I joined a natural history society. While being interested in natural history generally, botany was my special choice and I was elected secretary of the botanical section. My collection of pressed wild flowers was awarded the first prize. It was here at Ackworth that I had my first lesson in conservation. A rare plant which had been known in only one locality had become almost extinct. Our natural history society obtained some roots from another source and we planted them in the place where they were becoming extinct. There was a limited number of gardens for boys who were interested in horticulture. You could obtain the rights to one of these gardens by buying it from some other boy who was willing to relinquish his claim or who leaving school at the end of the term. Mine was handed down to me by my brother. I took great interest in this garden and had a fine display of flowers especially perennials. After leaving Ackworth, I was apprenticed for three years to the firm of John Cheal & Sons, Lowfield Nurseries, Crawley Sussex, to learn the nursery and seed business. The guardians of my father's estate paid a premium of fifty pounds (about $250) to this firm for teaching me the business. My indenture of apprenticeship was drawn up legally, signed by all parties before witnesses, and bore government stamps for the amount of fifty shillings. The firm paid me five shillings (about $1.25) a week for the first two years and six shillings a week for the last year. I went through all the different departments of this business, viz. Greenhouse department, growing plants under glass, propagating under glass, grafting rhododendrons, clematis, etc. Budding roses in the field both bush and tree types. Budding and grafting fruit trees, pruning and training fruit trees, espalier, cordon, bush and standard. Propagating ornamental trees and shrubs, layering, etc. Propagating perennial and rock garden plants." (An excerpt from the forthcoming In His Own Words by Theodore Payne quoted from the Theodore Payne Foundation website)
• pay'sonii/payson'ii: after Wyoming botanist and professor of botany Edwin Blake Payson (1893-1927) (ref. Draba paysonii)
• pechoen'sis: of or from the area of the Pecho Hills, southwest of San Luis Obispo (ref. Arctostaphylos pechoensis)
• peckia'num: this name honors Morton Eaton Peck (1871-1959), field botanist, professor of botany at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and author of A Manual of the Higher Plants of Oregon. Peck received his B.S. from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, in 1895, an A.M degree from the same institution in 1911, then received an honorary doctorate in science from Cornell in 1940 and another honorary doctorate in literature from Willamette University in 1955. He was the son of George D. Peck of LaPorte City, Iowa, and like his father was an avid naturalist and taxidermist. He collected birds, mammals and plants. Many of the specimens were purchased by Eugene S. Ellsworth for the Natural History Museum at Ellsworth Community College which was founded in 1890 in Iowa Falls, Iowa (ref. Lomatium peckianum)
• pectina'cea: same as following entry (ref. Eragrostis pectinacea)
  
• pectina'ta/pectina'tus: comb-like (ref. Lessingia glandulifera var. pectinata, Monarda pectinata, Potamogeton pectinatus)
• pectinif'era: bearing a comb-like structure
• pectinisec'ta: from the words for "comb" and "cut," so presumably meaning cut in the fashion of a comb (ref. Potentilla pectinisecta)
• Pec'tis: from the Greek pecteo, "to comb," the leaves of most species being pectinately ciliate, that is, fringed with hairs on the margin with narrowly close set divisions like the teeth of a comb (ref. genus Pectis)
• Pectocar'ya: from the Greek pectos, "combed," and karua, "nut," because of comb-like margins on some of the nutlets (ref. genus Pectocarya)
• pecuniar'ia: possibly from the Spanish pecuniaria, "financial, pecuniary or related to money," from the Latin pecuniarius, "of money". David Hollombe has informed me that this taxon was found beside Dollar Lake (ref. Arabis breweri var. pecuniaria)
• peda'ta/peda'tum: like a bird's foot, with divisions radiating from a single point (ref. Sidalcea pedata, Adiantum pedatum)
• pedemonta'na: Stearns gives "of Piedmont, Italy" as the meaning of this name, but I think for this particular taxon, the meaning derives rather from pes or pedis, "a foot, the base of anything" and montana, "pertaining to mountains," and thus "at the base of the mountains." This taxon inhabits the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. Another ssp. of G. capitata is mediomontana, "in the middle elevations of the mountains" (ref. Gilia capitata ssp. pedemontana)
• pedicella'ta/pedicella'tus:  from the Latin for "with a pedicel" because of the thread-like stalks of the flower (ref. Calystegia malacophylla ssp. pedicellata, Phacelia pedicellata)
• Pedicular'is: from the Latin pediculus meaning "louse," referring to the old English belief that when cattle grazed on these plants, they became infested with lice (ref. genus Pedicularis)
• pediculif'era: bearing lice (ref. Chamaesyce pediculifera)
• Pedio'melum: from the Greek for "plain apple" (ref. genus Pediomelum)
• peduncula'ta: with a distinct stalk, referring to the prominent flower stems (ref. Nemophila pedunculata, Viola pedunculata)
• Pega'num: from the ancient Greek name peganon for rue (ref. genus Peganum)
• peirsonia'na: see peirsonii below (ref. Phacelia peirsoniana)
• peir'sonii/peirson'ii: after Frank Warrington Peirson (1865-1951), a California collector who who worked mostly in the San Gabriel Mountains and Inyo County with his half-sister Mable Burnham Peirson, a high school biology teacher (ref. Calystegia peirsonii, Lupinus peirsonii, also Camissonia claviformis ssp. peirsonii)
• Pelargo'nium: from the Greek pelargos for "stork," alluding to the bill-shaped fruit [Note: It is interesting that several of the members of this family take their names from long-billed birds, i.e. pelargos (stork), geranos (crane), and erodios (heron)] (ref. genus Pelargonium)
• Pellae'a: from the Greek pellaios, "dark," possibly alluding to the stalks of this fern which are generally dark (ref. genus Pellaea)
• pel'lita/pelli'ta: from the Latin pellis, "skin or hide," thus meaning covered with skin or hide, or having skin or hide (ref. Carex pellita)
• Peltan'dra: from the Greek pelte, "a shield, target," and aner or andros, "stamen, man," hence "hidden or shielded anthers or stamens" (ref. genus Peltandra)
• pelta'ta/pelta'tum: shield-shaped (ref. Nymphoides peltata, Pelargonium peltatum)
• pelvifor'mis: basin-shaped
• pendletonen'se: named for Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base in San Diego County (ref. Eryngium pendletonense)
• pen'dula: same as pendulina (ref. Senna pendula)
  
• penduliflor'a: with blossoms that "hang down" as they age (ref. Emmenanthe penduliflora)
• penduli'na: hanging, pendulous (ref. Arabis pendulina)
• pendulocar'pa: with fruits hanging down (ref. Boechera holboellii var. pendulocarpa)
• pen'dulum/pen'dulus: hanging down, from the Latin pendere, "to suspend", the -ulus suffix indicating a tendency or action (ref. Eriogonum pendulum, Scirpus pendulus)
• penicilla'ta: having a tuft of hair somewhat like a paintbrush (ref. Pectocarya penicillata)
• peninsular'e/peninsular'is: growing on a peninsula; for example, referring to the first collection of the species Allium peninsulare in Baja California, a peninsula (ref. Allium peninsulare var. peninsulare, Arctostaphylos peninsularis, Navarettia peninsularis)
• Pennise'tum: from the Latin penna, "feather," and seta, "a bristle," thus literally, "feather-bristled," because some species have plumose or feathery bristles (ref. genus Pennisetum)
• Pen'stemon: from the Greek pente, "five," and stemon, "stamen," for the fifth stamen, referring to the staminode, or just an allusion to the fact that it has five stamens (ref. genus Penstemon)
• pensylvan'ica/pensylvan'icum: of or from Pennsylvania (ref. Cardamine pensylvanica, Polygonum pensylvanicum)
• Pentachae'ta: from the Greek penta, "five," and chaeta, "bristle or long hair," referring to the five pappus scales (ref. genus Pentachaeta and species Layia pentachaeta, Thymophylla [formerly Dyssodia] pentachaeta var. belenidium)
• pentac'tis: five-rayed, from penta, "five," and actis, "a ray or beam" (ref. Deinandra [formerly Hemizonia] pentactis)
• pentago'na: five-angled (ref. Cuscuta pentagona)
• Pentagram'ma: possibly from two Greek words meaning "five stripes" (ref. genus Pentagramma)
• pentalep'is: five-scaled (ref. Ambrosia salsola var. pentalepis)
• pentan'dra/pentan'drum: with five stamens (ref. Mitella pentandra, Parvisedum pentandrum)
• pentasper'ma: five-seeded (ref. Plantago elongata ssp. pentasperma)
• peplo'ides: means "resembling Peplis (now Lythrum) portula" and describes the appearance of the plant when it grows on exposed mud, rather than under water (ref. Callitriche peploides, Ludwigia peploides)
• pep'lus: this is one that I'm still puzzling over. One source has peplum as a garment worn by women in ancient Greece, which was cloth caught at the shoulders and draped in folds to the waist, and another gives peplis as a name used by Dioscorides as a Mediterranean coastal spurge and peplus as a name he used for the northern equivalent of peplis (ref. Euphorbia peplus)
• per-: sometimes used as an intensive prefix meaning "well, very much, completely"
• peramoen'us: very pleasing (ref. Streptanthus albidus ssp. peramoenus)
• Peraphyl'lum: from the Greek pera, "excessively," and phyllon, "leaf," thus "very leafy" (ref. genus Peraphyllum)
• peregri'na/peregri'num/peregri'nus: foreign or exotic, wandering or straggling in growth (ref. Veronica peregrina ssp. xalapensis, Gnaphalium peregrinum, Erigeron peregrinus)
• peren'nans: perennial (ref. Arabis perennans)
• peren'ne/peren'nis: perennial (ref. Erysimum perenne, Lolium perenne, Bellis perennis)
• Pere'zia: named for Lorenzo Perez, a 16th century Spanish apothecary and author of a history of drugs (ref. former genus Perezia, now renamed Acourtia)
• pere'zii: after Jorge Victor Perez (1869-1920), a physician and horticulturist from the Canary Islands (ref. Limonium perezii)
• perfolia'ta/perfolia'tum: refers to the stem which 'perforates' the stem (ref. Chorizanthe perfoliata, Claytonia perfoliata, Oxytheca perfoliata, Lepidium perfoliatum)
• perfora'tum: perforated, with the paired leaves joined at the base and thus 'perforated' by the stem (ref. Hypericum perforatum)
• Perical'lis: from the Greek perikalles, "very beautiful" (ref. genus Pericallis)
• Perico'me: from the Greek peri, "around," and come, "a tuft of hair," referring to the ciliate akene margins (ref. genus Pericome)
• Periderid'ia: either from the Greek peri, "around," and derris, "a leather coat" (Munz), or (2) from the Greek for "around the neck," from the involucre (Jepson).  Derris also means in Greek a leather covering, and thus an allusion to the tough seed pods (ref. genus Perideridia)
• Perito'ma: from the Greek for "cut-around," peri meaning "around" and tome or tomos meaning "division, section, to slice." The calyx base is circumcissile (ref. genus Peritoma)
• Perit'yle: from the Greek peri, "around," and tyle, "a callus," and meaning "around the margin," referring to the thick calloused margin of the achenes (ref. genus Perityle)
• peritylo'ides: like genus Perityle (ref. Phacelia perityloides var. perityloides)
• perpal'lidus: very pale
• perplex'ans: intricate, involved, puzzling, tangled (ref. Ceanothus greggii var. perplexans)
• Per'sea: from the Greek name persea used by Theophrastus and Hippocrates for some unknown Egyptian tree, possibly Cordia myxa (ref. genus Persea)
• per'sica: from the Latin persica, "peach," in ancient times called persike or persica malus, "Persian apple," a fruit that reached Europe from China by way of Persia (ref. Prunus persica, Veronica persica)
• persicar'ia: the medieval name of a knotweed, from Persica, peach, alluding to the shape of the leaves (ref. Polygonum persicaria)
• persicario'ides: resembling Persicaria, whose generic appellation is derived from the medieval name of a knotweed (ref. Rumex persicarioides)
• per'sicus: belonging to, of or from Persia
• persis'tens: persistent (ref. Calochortus persistens)
• persona'tus: from the Latin personatus, "masked" (ref. Penstemon personatus)
• perstric'tus: a modern Latin dictionary says this is the perfect participle passive of the transitive verb perstringo, "to graze or touch lightly," also with the meanings "to belittle or censure," or "to dull or deaden (senses)," but none of these may explain its botanical meaning which is more likely to derive from strictus, "upright, stiff," and the intensive prefix per-, thus meaning "very stiff or very straight" (ref. Astragalus douglasii var. perstrictus)
• peruvia'num: of or from Peru (ref. Lycopersicon peruvianum)
• -pes: a suffix referring to the stalk, see brevipes, latipes, longipes, ternipes
• pes-cap'rae: means "foot of the goat," alluding to the shape of the leaflet (ref. Oxalis pes-caprae)
• Petalon'yx: from the Greek petalon, "petal," and onyx, "claw," thus claw-petalled (ref. genus Petalonyx)
• Petalo'stemum: from the Greek words for "petal" and "stamen" because of the unusual union of these parts, this is a genus whose only southern California representative, searsiae, has now been placed by Jepson into the genus Dalea (ref. genus Petalostemum)
• petasa'ta: probably from the Latin petasatus, "prepared for a journey, having a cap on" (ref. Carex petasata)
• Petasi'tes: a Greek name derived from petasos, "a hat with a broad brim," alluding to the large leaves (ref. genus Petasites)
• petasi'tis: hat-like
• Peter'ia: after Robert Peter (1805-1894), a Kentucky botanist and chemist, "...born in Launeeston, England, 21 January, 1805. He received his earliest education principally in England, and subsequently by self-instruction. About 1821 he came to the United States and settled in Pittsburgh, where he learned the drug business. While so engaged he devoted much attention to botany, and to the conchology of the rivers... also founding a botanical society, and becoming associated in the organization of the Philosophical Society and the Philological Institute of Pittsburgh. At the invitation of Amos Eaton, he studied for a session at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, in 1828, where he received the title of Lecturer on Natural and Demonstrative Science. In 1830-1831 he was called to deliver experimental lectures on chemistry at the Western University of Pennsylvania, and also at the Mechanics' Institute in Pittsburgh. In 1832 he delivered a course of chemical lectures at the Eclectic Institute of Lexington, Kentucky, and was engaged to assist in the chemical instruction of the medical department of Transylvania University, also becoming professor of chemistry in Morrison college of that university. He then entered the medical department, was graduated in 1834, and in 1838 was appointed professor of chemistry and pharmacy in that institution. In 1839 he visited Europe in order to secure books, anatomical preparations, and apparatus for the university, and at the same time he attended lectures in Paris and London. He was associated in founding the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville in 1850, but three years later returned to the Medical School of Lexington. During the greater part of the civil war he was employed as acting assistant surgeon in charge of the United States general hospitals in Lexington. In 1865 he was appointed professor of chemistry and experimental natural philosophy at Kentucky University, which in 1866 acquired the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, in which he remained until 1887, when he was made Emeritus. Dr. Peter was chemist to the Kentucky Geological Survey in 1854-1860, and in 1859-1860 conducted the chemical department of the geological surveys of Indiana and Arkansas. This work was interrupted by the civil war, but resumed in 1875, and since that year he again filled the post of chemist to the Kentucky Geological Survey. In this capacity he accomplished numerous analyses of soils, ores, waters, and other materials which were published in the reports of the surveys. He edited the "Transylvania Medical Journal" in 1837-1838, and besides many articles on chemistry, geology, and medicine, in periodicals and the transactions of societies of which he is a member, he prepared the "Geological Formations of Kentucky" for Collins's History of Kentucky. [Other publications of his were] "A Digest of the Report of the Geological Survey of Arkansas" and a "Digest of the Reports of the First Geological Survey of Kentucky," prepared under the auspices of the United States Geological Survey." (Quoted from Virtual American Biographies) (ref. genus Peteria)
• petiolar'e/petiolar'is: with conspicuous petioles (ref. Helichrysum petiolare, Helianthus petiolaris)
• Petrador'ia: from the Greek petra, "a rock," and Doria, an early name for the Goldenrod (ref. genus Petradoria)
• petrae'a/petraeus: rock-loving (ref. Pterixia petraea)
• petrophi'la/petrophi'lus: from the Greek petros, "rock," and phileo, "to love," because of its habitat (ref. Holmgrenanthe [formerly Maurandya] petrophila, Erigeron petrophilus)
• Petrophy'ton: from the Greek petra, "rock," and phyton, "plant," thus rock plant (ref. genus Petrophyton)
• Petrorha'gia: from the Greek petros, "rock," and rhagas, "a chink or break" from rhegnymi, "to break asunder," thus meaning "rock fissure" in reference to the habitat of some species (ref. genus Petrorhagia)
• Petroseli'num: from the Greek petros, "a rock," and selinon, "parsley or celery," this is the name used by Dioscorides, although the Jepson Manual curiously says "stone wreath" (ref. genus Petroselinum)
• Petu'nia: from petun, a native American name for tobacco (ref. genus Petunia)
• Peucephyl'lum: from the Greek peuke, "fir," and phyllon, "leaf," because of its superficial resemblance to a fir tree (ref. genus Peucephyllum)
• Phace'lia: based on the Greek phakelos, meaning "cluster," and alluding to the densely crowded flower spikes of most species of the genus (ref. genus Phacelia)
• phaeacan'tha: from the Greek root phae- or phaios meaning "dusky, dark or gray" and acanthos, "spine," thus dark- or gray-spined.  Thanks to Philippe Faucon at Desert-Tropicals.com for information regarding this name (ref. Opuntia phaeacantha)
• phaeocar'pa/phaeocar'pum/phaeocar'pus: with dark fruit (ref. Malacothrix phaeocarpa)
• phaeoceph'ala/phaeoceph'alus: with dark heads (ref. Carex phaeocephala, Juncus phaeocephalus var. paniculatus)
• Phalacro'seris: from the Greek phalakros, meaning "bald," and seris, "a species of chicory or endive" (ref. genus Phalacroseris)
• Phalar'is: an ancient Greek name used by Dioscorides for a kind of grass with shiny spikelets, according to Umberto Quattrocchi from phalaros, "having a patch of white, crested," and/or phalos, "shining, bright, white" (ref. genus Phalaris)
• Phaseo'lus: from the Greek phaselos, "a little boat or light vessel," referring to its similarity to a bean pod, this name became the Latin phaseolus used for a kind of bean (ref. genus Phaseolus)
• -phila/philum: from phileo, "to love," this is an ending which conveys the sense of loving some particular habitat or other, as in eremophila, "desert-loving," nemophila, "loving a glade or wooded meadow," or psammophila, "sand-loving" or halophilum, "salt-loving"
• philadel'phica/philadel'phicus: of or from Philadelphia (ref. Physalis philadelphica, Erigeron philadelphicus)
• Philadel'phus: a Greek-derived name after Ptolemy Philadelphus, Greek King of Egypt 309-247 BC (ref. genus Philadelphus)
• phil'brickii/philbrick'ii: after Ralph Nowell Philbrick (1934- ), botanist at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and collector on the Channel Islands, in 1967 edited The Proceedings of the Symposium on the Biology of the California Islands. From 1974 to 1987 he was the Director of the SBBG (ref. Malacothrix foliosa ssp. philbrickii)
• philoxero'ides: like or having the form of genus Philoxerus, in the Amaranthaceae
• -philus: a suffix which frequently means loving or having an affinity for, as in hydrophilus, "water-loving," petrophilus, "rock loving"
• phleo'ides: resembling genus Phleum (ref. Koeleria phleoides, Lycurus phleoides)
• Phle'um: from the Greek phleos, an ancient name for a kind of swamp-growing grass (ref. genus Phleum)
• Phlo'mis: from the Greek name phlomis, for some plant possibly not of this genus (ref. genus Phlomis)
• Phlox: from the Greek phlox, "flame," ancient name of Lychnis of the Caryophyllaceae (ref. genus Phlox)
• Phoenicau'lis: from the Greek phoinix or phoinikos, "purple, red, crimson," or possibly derived from phaneros, "evident, conspicuous, visible," and kaulos, "stalk or stem," thus meaning "visible stem" (ref. genus Phoenicaulis)
• Phoe'nix: a Greek name for the date palm, of uncertain meaning (ref. genus Phoenix)
• Pholis'ma: from the Greek pholis, "scale," because of the scale-like leaves (ref. genus Pholisma)
• Pholis'toma: from the Greek pholis, "scale," and stoma, "mouth," hence meaning "scale-mouthed, because of the scales in the throat of the flower (ref. genus Pholistoma)
• -phora/-phorum/-phorus: suffix meaning "to carry or bear, movement" (e.g. adenophora, "bearing glands," trichophorum, "bearing hairs," cephalophorus, "bearing heads")
• Phoraden'dron: from the Greek phor, "a thief," and dendron, "tree," hence "tree thief" because it draws nourishment from its host tree (ref. genus Phoradendron)
• pho'xus: from the Greek phoxos, "tapering, pointed"
• -phragma: indicating the presence of some kind of a partition (ref. genus Lithophragma)
• Phragmi'tes: from the Greek phragma, "a fence or screen, hedge," hence growing in hedges (ref. genus Phragmites)
• Phy'la: from the Greek phyle, "tribe," probably from the flowers being tightly clustered in heads (ref. genus Phyla [formerly Lippia])
• Phyllod'oce: honors the Greek sea nymph mentioned by the Roman writer Virgil (ref. genus Phyllodoce)
• phylloman'ica: with wild or excessively leafy growth (ref. Carex echinata ssp. phyllomanica)
• Phyllospa'dix: from the Greek phyllon, "leaf," and spadix, "a palm frond or palm branch," and the Latin spadix or spadicis, "a palm branch broken off together with its fruit," referring to the inflorescence, according to Umberto Quattrocchi (ref. genus Phyllospadix)
• phyllosta'chya: with leafy spikes
• Phyllosta'chys: from the Greek phyllon, "leaf," and stachys, "a spike" (ref. genus Phyllostachys)
• phylloste'gia: from the words for "leaf" and "a covering" (ref. Atriplex phyllostegia)
• phyl'lus: leaves, foliage
• physalifo'lium: with leaves like those of genus Physalis (ref. Solanum physalifolium)
• Phy'salis: from the Greek physalis, "a bladder or bubble," because of the inflated calyx (ref. genus Physalis)
• physalo'des: presumably meaning "bladder-like" (ref. Nicandra physalodes)
• Physar'ia: from the Greek phusa or physa, "bellows" because of the inflated pod (ref. genus Physaria)
• Physocar'pus: from the Greek phusa or physa, "bladder, a pair of bellows" and karpos, "fruit," thus "bladdery fruit" (ref. genus Physocarpus)
• physo'des: bladder-like (ref. Rupertia physodes)
• Phytolac'ca: from the Greek phyton, "plant," and Latin lacca, "crimson lake," because of the color in the berries (ref. genus Phytolacca)
• phytolaccifo'lium: with leaves like genus Phytolacca (ref. Aconogonon [formerly Polygonum] phytolaccifolium)