CRC World Dictionary of Grasses: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology - 3 Volume Set v. 2

2402 Pages·2006·12.99 MB·English

by  Umberto Quattrocchi

CRC WORLD
DICTIONARY
OF GRASSES
Common Names,
Scientific Names,
Eponyms, Synonyms,
and Etymology
V O L U M E I
A - D

CRC WORLD
DICTIONARY
OF GRASSES
Common Names,
Scientific Names,
Eponyms, Synonyms,
and Etymology
V O L U M E I
A - D
Umberto Quattrocchi
Boca Raton London New York
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Quattrocchi, Umberto.
CRC world dictionary of grasses : common names, scientific names, eponyms, synonyms, and etymology / by Umberto Quattrocchi.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-8493-1303-1 (alk. paper)
1. Grasses--Dictionaries. I. Title: World dictionary of grasses. II. Title.
QK495.G74.Q38 2006
584’.9--dc22 2005046739
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Dedication
To Paola, Daria, and Salvatore

If circumstances lead me, I will find
Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed
Within the centre.
(W. Shakespeare, Hamlet)

Foreword
Communication is both a complex matter and a universal Umberto Quattrocchi has dealt with this subject in a
phenomenon. A sender, a receiver, and the information to general way in his CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names
be transferred form the essential elements. Communication in four volumes, obligatory reading for all those interested
takes place between humans, between animals, and between in — as the subtitle puts it — Common Names, Scientific
plants, but also between humans and animals, as well as Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology. Although
between animals and plants. The information to be trans- dealing with names of vascular plants only, this mine of
formed takes many forms — visual, acoustic, olfactory, and information has found its place on the shelves of reference
tactile. In science, communication takes place as a rule in libraries all over the world and is constantly used by a wide
rather condensed forms, often visual as a written text; infor- spectrum of users. However, any work of this kind cannot
mation may even be still more condensed as in a mathe- be comprehensive, in particular when considering plant
matical formula, in bar codes, or in digitized images. In diversity on a global scale and the multitude of languages
theory, communication in the sciences should be precise spoken today, all of them possessing names for plants.
and unequivocal, but in real life many ambiguities exist, Therefore, an in-depth study of a single plant family is most
some of them by coincidence and some deliberately intro- welcome.
duced and the source of much confusion. A large number For good reasons, Quattrocchi has chosen the grasses,
of dictionaries have been published to try to clarify scientific a very large plant group, worldwide in distribution and of
terminology and to ease communication. prime importance for the world economy, including such
Within the natural sciences, the large field of bio- major crops as wheat, rice, maize, sugar, and barley, to
diversity uses scientific names for communication, not bar mention just a few important ones. And he is most suited
codes or digitized images. The International Codes of to do this job: he is well-read, multilingual, possessing a
Botanical and Zoological Nomenclature set the rules for the general level of culture equalled by few, and therefore able
use of scientific plant and animal names, resulting in their to go back into etymology and history, often right to the
universal and unequivocal application. Since scientific original mention of a particular grass name in the scientific
names cannot by their nature be abbreviated, every special- literature long before Linnaeus.
ist has to be aware of an extremely large number of them, Quattrocchi has had to deal with tens of thousands of
many difficult to memorize. Therefore, it is most helpful to grass names and a considerable number of languages, sev-
know and understand the background of the respective sci- eral of them used only outside Europe for an obvious rea-
entific name — its etymology, its history, the name of the son. This plant group dominates many extensive areas of
person who first coined it, the circumstances of its origin. the globe: the prairies in temperate North America, the
There is always a time axis in this: scientific names have forests of bamboo in Southeast Asia, the dry savannahs in
been formed over centuries; some are ancient, some recent, subtropical Africa, as well as the spinifex grassland of cen-
and this is often not evident to the uninitiated. tral Australia or, in Europe, the wetlands in the Danube
There is a high degree of standardization in scientific delta densely covered by reeds. In short, this new dictionary
names, which largely has helped their universal use in com- helps us to understand the complex background of grass
munication. By contrast, common names are neither stan- names and forms an invaluable addition to our knowledge
dardized nor universally in use. For species, they may con- of this plant family. It is of particular relevance to all of us
sist of one or more words. In addition, they are only since the grasses provide the most important source of pro-
applicable locally, i.e., within the region where a given tein for human nutrition on a global scale, for, as Isaiah V
language is spoken. As a consequence, common names are put it “All flesh is grass.”
totally unsuitable for international communication. How-
ever, it should be noted that common names also have their H.-Walter Lack
background, etymology, and history, often undergoing more Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum,
changes over time and often more diversified locally than Berlin-Dahlem,
the standardized scientific names. Freie Universität Berlin