- IPNI Life Sciences Identifier (LSID)
- urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:399655-1
- Publication
- Hortus Regius Botanicus Berolinensis descriptus
- Collation
- 2: 209
- Date of Publication
- Jul-Dec 1833
- Family as entered in IPNI
- Poaceae
Remarks
‘The Latin term ‘colonus’, of the classical authors, is a masculine noun in the accusative case, in apposition. Linnaeus, whenever he used noun epithets, usually capitalized the first letter of the epithets and listed such epithets in the Nomia Trivialia section of his works. In his publication of the species name Panicum colonum, Linnaeus (Syst. Nat., ed. 10. 2: 870. 1759) did not capitalize ‘c’, the first letter of the epithet; in his subsequent publication, he (Sp. Pl. ed. 2, 2: Nomia Trivialia. 1763) did not list ‘colonum’ as a noun. The Linnaean usage suggests that ‘colonum’ was used as an adjective. However, Hitchcock (Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 17: 256. 1913) chose to treat ‘colonum’ as a noun, and in a footnote, he mentioned the following: ‘Dr. E. L. Greene called attention to the fact that the specific name is not an adjective, and suggested that it is probably a genitive plural. The word appears to be contracted from colonorum, genitive plural of colonus, a husbandman or a colonist. Dr. J. A. Nieuwland has kindly searched Latin authorities and verifies this conclusion, though there appears to be no direct authority for the word colonum.’ In his extensive discussion on the status of ‘colonum,’ Ward (in Sida 21: 2171-2183. 2004) accepted it as a noun. But in botanical Latin, the use of classical nouns as adjectives has been traditional (as used by Linnaeus, l.c.), and this is how it was understood by 19th-century authors, such as Kunth (Oplismenus colonus) and Link (Echinochloa colona). Nicolson (in Taxon 35: 324. 1986) and Michael (in Taxon 58: 1366-1368. 2009) also recommended to treat ‘colonum’ as an adjective’ (fide Werner Greuter; B).