Columbine is from the Latin for dove, the flower resembling five perched doves. Alternatively it has the shape of an eagle’s claw, aquila being the Latin for eagle. Similarly, larkspur is said to have the shape of the spur, or claw, of a lark. Others see the shape of a dolphin in the seed case behind the flower which, in both Latin and Greek, gives rise to delphinium.
Spelling fuchsia is assisted if you know it was named after a Belgian botanist (I think) called Fuchs, just like the name of the Leicester City left back.
Edit - just checked. Fuchs, as might have been expected, was German. I was thinking of the Flemish botanist Lobel who gives his name to lobelia.
Something else I wanted to mention about Fuchs is it is German for fox. Foxglove, however, has nothing to do with foxes which are not recorded as ever wearing gloves. However the flowers might make mittens for elves, or the little folks, and folks’ gloves got corrupted into foxgloves. Possibly. The Latin name of digitalis refers to the flower fitting like a thimble (the German for foxglove) over a digit or finger.
sorry to be pedantic ( he lies ) but Fire's list corrects two errors I spotted on pansyface's list. Aureus and Argentius. P's list says "orange and white" but Au , and Ag are the chemical symbols for Gold and Silver , hence their use in botanical terms. ( correctly listed in Fire's list )
I’ve just spent a leisurely hour looking up some more derivations
Aconitum - from the Greek akon, a dart. Arrows used to be poisoned with the plant’s sap Adiantum - Greek: a=not, dianthos=wet. Apparently the fronds remain dry even when immersed in water Aquilegia - Nora Barlow. The granddaughter of Charles Darwin, she was interested in developing new strains. These were passed on by a friend to Blooms of Bressingham on the understanding that one of the plants was named after her. Aquilegia Nora Barlow was actually a plant with origins back in the 16th century Astilbe - a=not, stilbe=bright. Early forms had colourless petals. Buddleia - named after Thomas Buddle, vicar of Holy Trinity church, North Fambridge, Essex Calendula - the first day of the month alluding to the fact that the plant supposedly flowers all year round (when gorse is out of flower, kissing is out of season) Coreopsis - Greek. Koris=tick or insect, opsis=resembling. Hence tickseed. Cyclamen - Kyklaminos is Greek for circle referencing the coiled stem of the seed pod Forsythia - named in honour of Bruce Forsyth’s 18th century ancestor the horticulturalist William Forsyth Fuchsia Mrs Popple - She grew fuchsias in her garden in Stevenage. This unusual hardy plant grew behind her tennis court adjacent to Clarence Elliott’s Six Hills Nursery. He bred the plant and named it after her Helenium - flowers that sprang from the tears of Helen of Troy. Fake news, I think. Iris - Greek for rainbow, the flowers having all the colours of (or, as a friend of mine once said, all the colours of the rectum) Ixia - Greek for bird poo. The sap is similar Lobelia cardinalis - from the red of a cardinal’s dress Myostis - Greek: mus=mouse, otes=ear. The petals have the same shape as a mouse’s ear Nasturium - Latin nasi tortium or distorted nose. A reference to the pungency of the leaves Nicotiana - Jean Nicot (1530 - 1600) the French ambassador to Portugal introduced tobacco to the French and Portuguese courts Oxalis - Greek Oxis=acid. Many of the plants have very acidic leaves Petunia - Petun is the native Brazilian word for tobacco. Petunias are closely related to Nicotiana Plumbago - Latin for lead. Pliny believed the plant cured lead poisoning Rheum - Rha is a Russian name for the River Volga where rhubarb was first found Sambucus - a sambuca is a Latin musical instrument made from elder wood Senecio - senex is Latin for an old man, hence for a grey plant Wisteria - in honour of Caspar Wistar of the University of Pennsylvania. He must have been really cheesed off that they spelt his name incorrectly. Similarly, but nothing to do with gardening, Mount Everest was named in 1856 after the surveyor-general of India, Colonel Sir George Everest who actually pronounced his name Eve-rest, not Ev-er-est.
I like that celandine is named for the swallow - khelidōn in Greek - the flowering of the plant being associated with the arrival of swallows. Although in my garden celandine arrives in Feb.
The origin of the name Disa, a genus of orchid, is amusing. Disa was a woman in Swedish mythology who was commanded to appear before the king neither clothed nor naked, so she appeared wearing a fishing net! The orchid has a network of lines on the flowers.
The swollen roots of the orchid led the Greeks to name the plant orchis meaning testicle. In Middle English in the 12th/13th century they had a similar thought and called it ballockwort.
More wholesomely, daisy is a corruption of day’s eye - the flower opens at dawn and closes at dusk.
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Spelling fuchsia is assisted if you know it was named after a Belgian botanist (I think) called Fuchs, just like the name of the Leicester City left back.
Edit - just checked. Fuchs, as might have been expected, was German. I was thinking of the Flemish botanist Lobel who gives his name to lobelia.
Aureus and Argentius. P's list says "orange and white" but Au , and Ag are the chemical symbols for Gold and Silver , hence their use in botanical terms. ( correctly listed in Fire's list )
Aconitum - from the Greek akon, a dart. Arrows used to be poisoned with the plant’s sap
Adiantum - Greek: a=not, dianthos=wet. Apparently the fronds remain dry even when immersed in water
Aquilegia - Nora Barlow. The granddaughter of Charles Darwin, she was interested in developing new strains. These were passed on by a friend to Blooms of Bressingham on the understanding that one of the plants was named after her. Aquilegia Nora Barlow was actually a plant with origins back in the 16th century
Astilbe - a=not, stilbe=bright. Early forms had colourless petals.
Buddleia - named after Thomas Buddle, vicar of Holy Trinity church, North Fambridge, Essex
Calendula - the first day of the month alluding to the fact that the plant supposedly flowers all year round (when gorse is out of flower, kissing is out of season)
Coreopsis - Greek. Koris=tick or insect, opsis=resembling. Hence tickseed.
Cyclamen - Kyklaminos is Greek for circle referencing the coiled stem of the seed pod
Forsythia - named in honour of Bruce Forsyth’s 18th century ancestor the horticulturalist William Forsyth
Fuchsia Mrs Popple - She grew fuchsias in her garden in Stevenage. This unusual hardy plant grew behind her tennis court adjacent to Clarence Elliott’s Six Hills Nursery. He bred the plant and named it after her
Helenium - flowers that sprang from the tears of Helen of Troy. Fake news, I think.
Iris - Greek for rainbow, the flowers having all the colours of (or, as a friend of mine once said, all the colours of the rectum)
Ixia - Greek for bird poo. The sap is similar
Lobelia cardinalis - from the red of a cardinal’s dress
Myostis - Greek: mus=mouse, otes=ear. The petals have the same shape as a mouse’s ear
Nasturium - Latin nasi tortium or distorted nose. A reference to the pungency of the leaves
Nicotiana - Jean Nicot (1530 - 1600) the French ambassador to Portugal introduced tobacco to the French and Portuguese courts
Oxalis - Greek Oxis=acid. Many of the plants have very acidic leaves
Petunia - Petun is the native Brazilian word for tobacco. Petunias are closely related to Nicotiana
Plumbago - Latin for lead. Pliny believed the plant cured lead poisoning
Rheum - Rha is a Russian name for the River Volga where rhubarb was first found
Sambucus - a sambuca is a Latin musical instrument made from elder wood
Senecio - senex is Latin for an old man, hence for a grey plant
Wisteria - in honour of Caspar Wistar of the University of Pennsylvania. He must have been really cheesed off that they spelt his name incorrectly. Similarly, but nothing to do with gardening, Mount Everest was named in 1856 after the surveyor-general of India, Colonel Sir George Everest who actually pronounced his name Eve-rest, not Ev-er-est.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disa
More wholesomely, daisy is a corruption of day’s eye - the flower opens at dawn and closes at dusk.