A practical guide for botanists worldwide, providing a simple explanation of Latin grammar along with an in-depth vocabulary.

Latin is one of two acceptable languages for describing new plants, and taxonomists must be able to translate earlier texts in Latin. Providing a simple explanation of Latin grammar along with an in-depth vocabulary, this is an indispensable guide for systematic botanists worldwide. All relevant parts of speech are discussed, with accompanying examples as well as worked exercises for translating diagnoses and descriptions to and from Latin. Guidelines for forming specific epithets are also included. The authors cross-reference their grammar to Stearn's Botanical Latin and to articles in the International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, Fungi and Plants. The comprehensive vocabulary is enhanced with terms from recent glossaries for non-flowering plants – lichens, mosses, algae, fungi and ferns – making this an ideal resource for anyone looking to hone their understanding of Latin grammar and to translate botanical texts from the past 300 years.

"Botanical Latin is an internationally used technical language developed over the past 250 years for the naming and description of plants. In that time, in order to meet the expanding need for accurate scientific descriptions, its vocabulary has been continually enriched with new words, mostly coined from Greek, and with classical Latin words now given precise and particular botanical meanings.

A practical guide for botanists worldwide, providing a simple explanation of Latin grammar along with an in-depth vocabulary.