| 🌵 Author(s) | Paul V. Heath |
| 🌵 Type | Salmonopuntia salmiana |
Latin salmo (stem salmon-) ‘salmon’ (but here a latinization of the surname Salm[-Dyck]) + Opuntia. Intended as a correction of Salmiopuntia. Heath, quoted by Burkhardt (Eine Enzyklopädie zu eponymischen Pflanzennamen. 2022): “Salmo has genitive Salmonis and stem Salmon- (not ‘Salmi-‘), so the generic name is corrected; Salmo itself is preoccupied by Salmo Linné, type genus of the family Salmonidæ.”
Based on Opuntia ser. Salmianae, which is named for its type species Opuntia salmiana, which derives its name from German botanist Prince Joseph zu Salm-Dyck (1773-1861).
Generic names of this type are discouraged in Recommendation 20A.1(g) of the International Code of Nomenclature (“Authors forming generic names should comply with the following: […] Not use a name similar to or derived from the epithet in the name of one of the species of the genus.”).
Maarten H.J. van der Meer (2023 Jul 14). Salmonopuntia. Dictionary of Cactus Names. Retrieved from https://www.cactusnames.org/Salmonopuntia