I don't entirely agree with Tim Harvey's statement since some specific epithets are in the possessive, thus Aquilegia jonesii (he was a guy) and Silene elisabethae (a woman), though both genera take the feminine. Jim Jones (who never, never has been able to grow A. jonesii) -----Original Message----- From: Tim Harvey <zigur@hotmail.com> To: Bulb Society Pacific <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Mon, Jun 28, 2010 2:13 pm Subject: Re: [pbs] Haemanthus and Scadoxus Culture The specific epithet has to agree with the gender of the genus, so has nothing to do with the gender of anyone it commemorates. T > Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:57:06 -0400> To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> From: jshields@indy.net> Subject: Re: [pbs] Haemanthus and Scadoxus Culture> > Michael,> > I have not seen Dee Snijman's original publication of Haemanthus barkerae, > but from the ending of the species name, I would judge that it is named > after a Ms. Barker.> > In botanical Latin, the rule seems to be that the modern person's name is > Latinized by adding "i" to the modern name plus either "a" or "us" unless > it ends in "-er" in which cases the "i" is omitted. I think zoologists > tend to leave out the "i" in all cases.> _______________________________________________pbs mailing listpbs@lists.ibiblio.orghttp://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.phphttp://… http://ificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/