Common Latin & Greek root words in the botanical names

acme: Latin for “point, edge” — English word: “acme (the highest point of something)”

actis: Greek for “ray” — English word: “actinic” (adjective referring to radiation; a sunburn is actinic)

aden: Greek for “gland” — English word: “adenology” (the branch of physiology that deals with the glandular system)

alb: Latin for “white” — English word: “albacore” (white-fleshed tuna)

ambigua: Latin for “doubtful” — English word: “ambiguous”

angust: Latin for “narrow” — English word: “angust”

anis: Greek for “unequal” — English word: “anisopia” (a difference in vision between the two eyes [which the author has])

anthus: Greek for “flower” — English word: “anther”

arborea: Latin for “tree-like” — English words: “arbor,” “arboreal”

arcto: Greek for “bear” — English word: “arctic” (in reference to the Bear constellation, which appears in the northern sky)

argyr: Greek for “silver” — English word: “argyrosis” (silver-poisoning”

arida: Latin for “dry” — English word: “arid”

astrum: Greek for “star” — English words: “astral”, astronaut”

aure: Latin for “golden” — English word: “aureate” (excessively ornamented)

austro: Latin for “south” — English word: “Australia”

bi: Greek for “two” — English words: “bicycle, bisexual”

brev: Latin for “short” — English word: “brevity”

calyc/calyx: Greek for “cup, covering” — English word: “calyx”

campana: Latin for “bell” — English word: “campanile” (bell tower)

campestris: Latin for “field, level place” — English word: “campus”

canesc: Latin for “grey” — English word: “canescent” (greyish white)

capitat: Latin for “head” — English word: “capital”, “capitol”

carp: Greek for “fruit” — English words: botanical terms like mesocarp, pericarp, schizocarp

cephal: Greek for “head” — English word: “cephalopod” (class of animals including the octopus and squid)

cer: Greek for “waxy” — English word: “kerosene”

chrys: Greek for “golden” — English words: “chrysalis,” “Chrysanthemum”

chyl: Greek for “juice” — English word: “chyle” (milky fluid involved in digestion)

cinere: Latin for “ashy-grey” — English word: “cinder”

clava: Latin for “club” — English word: “clavinet”

color: Latin for “color” — English word: “color”

coma: Greek for “tuft of hair” — English word: “comet” (a “long-haired” star)”

cornu: Latin for “horn” — English word: “cornucopia”

crass: Greek for “thick” — English word: “crass”

crypt: Greek for “hide” — English word: “cryptic”

dendr: Greek for “tree” — English word: “dendrite” (a branch-like projection from a nerve cell)

dens: Latin for “compact” — English word: “dense”

dent: Latin for “tooth” — English word: “dental”

e-/ef-/ex-: Latin for “without, out of” — English words: “educate” (“lead out”), “effete” (“without vigor”), “extract” (“pull out”)

echin: Greek for “hedgehog, spiny” — English word: “Echinacea” (the plant)

erem: Greek for “lonely, desert” — English word: “eremite” (a recluse)

eria/erio: Greek for “wool,” “woolly”

erosa: Latin for “bitten-off edges” — English word: “erosion”

fil: Latin for “thread” — English word: “filament”

flav: Latin for “yellow” — English word: “flavonoids” (which are yellow)

flor: Latin for “flower” — English word: “floral”

foli: Latin for “leaf” — English word: “foliage”

form: Latin for “form” — English word: “form”

ger: Latin for “old” — English word: “geriatric”

glaber: Latin for “hairless, smooth” — English word: “glabrous”

glandul: Latin for “gland” — English word: “gland”

gloch: Greek for “point” — English word: “glochid” (hair-like spines on cacti)

glycyr: Greek for “sweet” — English word: “glycerin”

gon: Greek for “angle, joint” — English word: “polygon”

grac: Latin for “slender, graceful” — English word: “grace”

hymen: Greek for “membrane” — English word: “hymen”

incana: Latin for “grey or hoary” — English word: In J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings,” the wizard Gandalf (known as “the Grey”) says that his name “in the South” was “Incanus”

incarta: Latin for “embodied in flesh” — English word: “incarnation”

iso: Greek for “equal” — English word: “isometric” (having equal dimensions)

lat: Greek for “broad” — English word: “latitude”

lep: Greek for “scale” — English word: “Lepidoptera” (the taxonomic order of Butterflies: “scaled wing”)

linear: Latin for “narrow” — English word: “linear”

loba: Latin for “lobe” — English word: “lobe”

loma: Greek for “bordered” — English word: “Lomatium” (a genus in the Carrot Family, known for the winged borders on its seeds)

macr: Greek for “large” — English word: “macro-economics”

marginata: Latin for “margin, edge” — English word: “margin”

micro: Greek for “small” — English word: “microscope”

minuta: Latin for “small” — English word: “minute”

mira: Latin for “wonderful” — English words: “admire,” “miracle,” mirage,” “mirror”

mono: Greek for “one” — English word: “monorail”

montana: Latin for “mountain” — English word: “mountain”

multi: Latin for “many” — English word: “multiple”

obtusa: Latin for “wide, blunt” — English word: “obtuse”

occidenta: Latin for “western” — English word: “occidental”

ocula: Latin for “eye” — English word: “ocular”

onyx: Greek for “claw, fingernail” — English word: “onyx” (the type of agate, so named because the color resembles that of a fingernail)

palm: Latin for “palm” — English words: “palm,” “palmate”

pappus: Greek for “paper” — English word: “paper”

parv: Latin for “small” — English word: “Parvovirus” (the canine disease)

pauc: Latin for “small” — English word: “paucity”

pend: Greek for “to suspend” — English word: “pendulum”

pent: Greek for “five” — English word: “pentagon”

per: Greek for “around” — English word: “periscope”

petal: Greek for “petal” — English word: “petal”

phae: Greek for “dusky, dark or gray”

phylla: Greek for “leaf” — English word: “chlorophyll”

podi: Greek for “foot” — English word: “podiatrist”

poly: Greek for “many” — English words: “polygon,” “polyamorous”

poro: Greek for “pore” — English word: “pore”

port: Latin for “gate” — English word: “port” (which is a door to a city)

psil: Greek for “naked, smooth” — English word: “psilocybin” (the famous psychedelic compound in mushrooms in the genus Psilocybe, which means “bare-headed” in reference to their anatomy)

psor: Greek for “mangy, scabby” — English word: “psoriasis” (a skin condition)

pter: Greek for “wing” — English word: “Pterodactyl” (the flying dinosaur — literally “winged finger”)

pulchr: Latin for “beautiful” — English word: “pulchritude”

quadr: Latin for “four” — English words: “quadrangle,” “quadraphonic”

radia: Latin for “ray” — English words: “radiate,” “radio”

rhin: Greek for “nose” — English word: “Rhinocerous”

rhiz: Greek for “root” — English word: “rhizome”

rigid: Latin for “stiff” — English word: “rigid”

sal: Latin for “salt” — English word: “saline”

salvia: Latin for “healing herb” — English word: “salve”

senex/senec: Latin for “old man” — English word: “senile”

sphaer: Greek for “sphere” — English word: “sphere”

spine: Latin for “spiny” — English word: “spiny”

splenden: Latin for “gleaming, bright” — English word: “splendid”

strophe: Greek for “to turn” — English word: “catastrophe”

tetra: Greek for “four” — English word: “tetrahedron”

tri: both Greek and Latin for “three” — English words: “tricycle,” “tripod”

tricho (or thrix): Greek for “hairy, hair-like” — English word: “trichopathophobia” (the fear of hair)

valvis: Latin for “valve” — English word: “valve”

vill: Latin for “hairy” — English words: “velvet,” “velour”