Gender of supra-familial plant name suffixes.

[Mark A. Garland]

On Fri, Sep 02, 1988 at 02:47:05PM +1000, Laurie Adams wrote:
> Can anyone suggest a publication that specifies the Latin GENDER to be
> applied to the standard rank-endings of plants above family level (eg
> "-opsida", "-mycetes", "-phyceae", "-idae", etc.). I've searched in Stearn's
> "Botanical Latin", Brown's "Composition of Scientific Words" and the ICBN,
> but all in vain.
>
> Laurence G. Adams, Hon. Research Fellow
> c/- Australian National Herbarium
> Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research
> GPO Box 1600
> Canberra, ACT 2601
> Telephone: (02) 62465123
> Fax: (02) 62465249
> E-mail: l.adams at pi.csiro.au
>

Sept. 1988?  You should check your computer's clock. Or your network
connection, if it took 13 years to send this.

The ICBN recommends endings above family level, but doesn't tell you
the gender of those endings.  Here's an excerpt from the Tokyo Code
(the only one online) with my understanding of the genders.  Warning:
these are only educated guesses on my part.

"Recommendation 16A

16A.1. The name of a division or phylum is taken either from
distinctive characters of the division or phylum (in descriptive
names) or from a name of an included genus; it should end in -phyta,
unless it is a division or phylum of fungi, in which case it should
end in -mycota."

-phyta is a neuter plural, from Greek phyton, plant.  -mycota also
 appears to be a neuter plural, presumably formed irregularly from
 Greek mykes, myketos, mushroom, which is masculine.

"16A.2. The name of a subdivision or subphylum is formed in a similar
manner; it is distinguished from a divisional name by an appropriate
prefix or suffix or by the termination -phytina, unless it is a
subdivision or subphylum of fungi, in which case it should end in
-mycotina."

-phytina and -mycotina are neuter plurals, formed by adding the suffix
-inus, -ina, -inum (specifically, the plural form of -inum) to the
forms in the paragraph above.

"16A.3. The name of a class or of a subclass is formed in a similar
manner and should end as follows:

(a) In the algae: -phyceae (class) and -phycidae (subclass);"

These are feminine plurals, from Greek phykos, seaweed, plus the
suffixes -eus, -ea, -eum (specifically, the plural form of -ea) or
-ides.

"(b) In the fungi: -mycetes (class) and -mycetidae (subclass);"

-mycetes is the plural of mykes, mushroom, which is masculine in ancient
 Greek; this Latinized form could be either masculine or feminine. If
 these names parallel the algal names, I'd *guess* feminine (but see
 the next pair).  -mycetidae is feminine plural, from mykes, myketos
 and the suffix -ides.

"(c) In other groups of plants: -opsida (class) and -idae (subclass)."

-opsida appears to come from Greek opsis, a feminine word meaning
 appearance or resemblance, plus a suffix -ides, which should normally
 be feminine but seems to be used as a neuter plural here (judging
 from the -a ending and assuming the word is plural).  Either that, or
 the stem of opsis is simply taken to be opsid-.  Either way, it's a
 neuter plural.  -idae is merely the plural of the feminine suffix
 -ides.

Hope this excruciating detail helps,

Mark Garland
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
2600 Blair Stone Road, Mail Station 2500
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2400
U.S.A.