canadensis
lucgbulot@aol.com (Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:22:46 PDT)

Hi Linda and Max,

I agree with Max that Cañada is a spanish word that describes small valleys in the South of Spain. Nevertheless I have had a look at my french-latin botanical dictionnary and I could not find any other meaning than "from Canada" when it comes to canadensis... among a long list of examples I can think of:

Branta canadensis, Canada Goose

Castor canadensis, American Beaver

Cervus canadensis, Elk or Wapiti

Lynx canadensis, Canadian Lynx

and when it comes to plants - Allium canadense, Amelanchier canadensis, Anemone canadensis, Aquelegia canadensis, Cornus canadensis, Dicentra canadensis, Linaria canadensis, Sambucus canadensis, Sanguinaria canadensis, Stipa canadensis, Taxus canadensis, Viola canadensis, etc.

It would be useful to go back to the original description by Linnaeus to know what is the derivatio nominis of the name.

Keep in mind that many plants have been first described with inacurate names (in terms of geography) such as Scilla peruana (a mediterranean species) or Cereus peruvianus (that grows in Brazil).

Will look more and try to finf the original description...

Best regards,

Luc