Botanical Latin 4th edition By William T. Stearn ISBN 0715316435, this edition published in 2004 by David & Charles Publishers, soft cover, 546 pages Price $A49.95 plus $A10 postage within Australia, overseas postage please request a quote

First published in 1966, Botanical Latin has become accepted worldwide as the standard work of reference on this important subject. A comprehensive guide to every aspect of Latin usage in this field, it is an invaluable source of accurate information for gardeners, botanists, scientific historians, systematic entymologists and classical scholars alike.

Now in its 4th, completely revised and updated edition, this internationally renowned handbook summarises the grammar and syntax of botanical Latin, and covers the roots and origins of Latin and latinized geographical names, colour terms, symbols abbreviations, diagnoses and descriptions, the formation of names and epithets, and much more.

With an illustrated guide to descriptive terminology in both English and Latin, plus an extensive vocabulary of terms taken from current botanical usage, this is the most up-to-date and comprehensive book on the subject ever published.

About the author

Born in 1911, William T. Stearn has been successively Librarian of the Royal Horticultural Society's Lindley Library, a Senior Scientific Officer in the Department of Botany at the British Museum (Natural History) and a Visiting Professor in the Department of Botany and Agricultural Botany at the University of Reading. He is an Honorary Fellow of Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge and has received honorary doctorates from the universities of Leiden, Cambridge and Uppsala, as well as medals from the Royal Horticultural Society, the Linnean Society of London, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Chicago Horticultural Society and the Society for the History of Natural History. Professor Stearn has served on the councils of ten learned societies and has been President of the Linnean Society, the Ray Society and the Garden History Society. He is a Commander of the British Empire and has also received a knighthood from the King of Sweden. He is the author of some 476 publications on botanical, bibliographical and horticultural subjects, many dealing with the taxonomy of plants, and including sixteen complete books, among them Flower Artists of Kew and Dictionary of Plant Names for Gardeners. He edits the Greek natural history periodical Annales Mysei Goulandris.

Table of contents

• Apologia pro Libro meo
• Acknowledgements
• List of illustrations
• Part One - Introductory: I. How to use this book, II Introduction; III Development of botanical Latin terminology; The Latin alphabet and pronunciation
• Part Two - Grammar: V. Nouns, VI. Adjectives and participles, VII. Adverbs, VIII. Numerals and measurements, IX. Pronouns, X. Prepositions, XI. Conjunctions, XII. Verbs
• Part Three - Syntax and other matters: XIII. Diagnoses, XIV. Descriptions - Algae, Fungi, Lichenes, Bryophtya, Pteridophyta, Spermatophyta, XV. Punctuation, XVI. Habitats, XVII. Geographical names, XVIII. Colour terms, XIX. Greek words in botanical Latin, XX. Formation of names and epithets in Latin, XXI. Prefixes and suffixes, XXII. Descriptive terminology, XXIII. Chemical reactions and tests, XXIV. Symbols and abbreviations
• Part Four - Vocabulary and bibliography: XXV. Vocabulary, XXVI. General bibliography
• Synopsis polyglotta
• Plane shapes
• Index