Pereskia

Pereskia Mill. ()
🌵 Author(s)
🌵 Published in Gard. Dict. Abr., ed. 4: [1026] (1754)
🌵 Type Pereskia aculeata
Etymology

Pereskius + Latin -ĭa, the recommended suffix to form plant genus names from personal names that end with a consonant (Rec. 60B.1(b), International Code of Nomenclature). Named for French humanist, historian and astronomer Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc (1580-1637), who latinized his own name as Peireskius. In the 19th century the “corrected” spellings Peirescia and Peireskia were introduced, but a 1943 proposal to conserve Peireskia over Pereskia (Janchen in Feddes Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 52: 147, 155. 1943) was unanimously declined (Taxon 3(4): 119. 1954) and today the original spelling Pereskia is again universally accepted. See also Pereskiopsis.

Leuenberger (in Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 41: 4-5. 1986):

The pre-Linnean generic name Pereskia dates back to Plumier (1703) […]. Flower, fruit, and seed were illustrated, and a lengthy laudatio commemorated the merits of the French scholar Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peiresc (1580-1637), latinized by Plumier as “Nicolaus Fabricius Peireskius, Senator Aquisextiensis.”

Plumier’s spelling of the generic name was nevertheless Pereskia, probably reflecting the correct French pronunciation, as Weber (1898a) clear-sightedly explained. Both Linnaeus (1753) (Cactus pereskia) and Miller (1754) (Pereskia) retained this spelling, which is therefore nomenclaturally correct.

Subsequent authors modified the spelling to “Peirescia” (Zuccarini, 1837; Pfeiffer, 1837a, 1837b; Salm-Dyck, 1850), “Perescia” (Lemaire, 1838), and “Peireskia” (Schumann, 1898; Vaupel, 1925), assuming that “Pereskia” was an error.

Sometimes awkward polemics, speaking of a mutilation of the name of the person to be honored, have continued on the subject ever since (Dolz, 1937; Buxbaum, 1940; Backeberg, 1966; Ritter, 1979), disregarding the fact that Werdermann (1937) also had demonstrated not only Plumier’s obvious intention of latinizing the name in this spelling (mentioned four times in the publication, hence not a typographical error), but also its correctness under the International Rules of Botanical Nomenclature. The same applies today under the current International Code.

Pereskia Vell. (Fl. Flumin. 34. 1829) is a genus in the family Celastraceae.


How to cite

Maarten H.J. van der Meer (2023 Dec 06). Pereskia. Dictionary of Cactus Names. Retrieved from https://www.cactusnames.org/pereskia

Pronunciation
[per-ESK-e-a]

A.T. Johnson, H.A. Smith & A.P. Stockdale (2019): Plant Names Simplified, 3rd Edition

[puh-RES-kee-uh]

Ross Bayton (2019): The Garderner's Botanical

[Peréskia]

Helmut Genaust (1996): Etymologisches Wörterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen, 3. Auflage

“Botanical Latin is essentially a written language, but the scientific names of plants often occur in speech. How they are pronounced really matters little provided they sound pleasant and are understood by all concerned.”

William T. Stearn (1983): Botanical Latin, 3rd Edition: 53