From Abelia, those ornamental shrubs named after Dr.Clarke Abel (1780-1826), to the Zygopetalum of the orchid family, this thick reference provides the etymology of 6,000 botanical names. These are cross-referenced with about 3,000 vernacular plant names to provide a detailed guide to garden nomenclature.The author, the late William T. Stearn, was a botanical scholar who served as a botanist at London's Natural History Museum.
This work, now reprinted in trade paperback, began as a revision of the late A. W. Smith's "A Gardener's Book of Plant Names" (1963). Originally published in 1972, it was greatly amended and expanded on 20 years before it appeared as "Stearn's Dictionary of Plant Names for Gardeners" in 1992.
A Handbook on the Origin and Meaning of the Botanical Names of some Cultivated Plants
by William T. Stearn
Timber Press, 2002
More about this title in The Book Stall