Lou wrote: " Thanks linguists for the advice. I would like to use the adjective form, not the genitive. Jim, Puro as used here is an English proper name, so I guess it would be treated as undeclined even though it probably originates from a Latin language (Spanish). I am inclined towards puroiana, which you say would have been used in the past. You suggested purona. Can you explain that choice? Best, Lou" Sorry for the delay in replying, Lou, but I wanted to be able to quote chapter and verse from the Code. I don’t have a paper copy of the Code, and I was dreading reading it on-line (which is what I ended up doing). I’m glad I did, because my recommendation that you use purona was bad advice (and not simply the typo it might have looked like to some) although close. The form to use in your case is puroana. Here’s the Code: “60C.1.c If the personal name ends with a vowel, adjectival epithets are formed by adding -an- plus the nominative singular inflection appropriate to the gender of the generic name (e.g. Cyperus heyne-anus for Heyne, Vanda lindley-ana for Lindley, Aspidium bertero-anum for Bertero), except when the personal name ends with -a in which case -n- plus the appropriate inflection is added (e.g. balansa-nus (m), balansa-na (f), and balansa-num (n) for Balansa).” I became aware of this change from the old way of forming such names (-iana) when the name of what had originally been described as Rosa wichuraiana in the late nineteenth century began to appear in some publications as Rosa wichruana. But until you had asked your question, I had never actually checked the code. So at that point in the game, I realized that names ending in vowels and which had been given the termination –iana were being automatically corrected to the modern form, in the case of this rose to wichurana. The name of the rose is based on the name of Max Wichura. However, since not all vowels are treated the same way, I wanted to check the Code before replying again. As I said above, I’m glad I did, because names ending in –a are treated differently than names ending in other vowels. The name you want to use ends in the vowel o and thus should be formed puroana. Sorry for the initial confusion, and I hope this helps. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7 My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/