Ranunculus alismaefolius or alismifolius ?

[Frederick J. Peabody]

On Mon, 14 Apr 1997, Curtis Clark wrote:

> At 03:36 PM 4/14/97 -0500, Frederick J. Peabody wrote:
>  I
> >would recommend "alismofolius" as my first choice, with "alismifolius" as
> >a not-so-acceptable, but tolerable, alternative.
>
> To me, the issue of "alismofolius" is that it combines a Greek word and a
> Latin word, *not* a Greek root and a Latin root, since it uses the Greek
> combining form. I would much prefer that compound words be in a single
> language. As far as I can see, the only way to do this is to Latinize all
> the parts. So "alismifolius" would be preferable.  If the epithet had been
> alism*phyllus, "alismophyllus" would be preferable, since the entire Greek
> word would be latinized.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Curtis Clark                       http://www.is.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
> Biological Sciences Department                     Voice: (909) 869-4062
> California State Polytechnic University, Pomona    FAX:   (909) 869-4396
> Pomona CA 91768-4032  USA                          jcclark at csupomona.edu
>

I agree entirely with your post, Curtis.  It is preferable that both root
words in a combination be derived from the same language.  This should be
a recommendation in the Code, if it isn't already one (I don't have a
current copy at my disposal).  The combination "alismophyllus" is much
better form than either "alismofolius" or "alismifolius."  Unfortunately,
this is not an option given the protologue of the author.

Frederick J. Peabody
Associate Professor of Botany
University of South Dakota
414 East Clark Street
Vermillion, SD  57069  USA
fpeabody at sundance.usd.edu