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The word "ericoid" is used in modern biological terminology for its literal meanings and for extensions. Etymologically the word is derived from two
The word "ericoid" is used in modern biological terminology for its literal meanings and for extensions. Etymologically the word is derived from two Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
roots via Latin adaptations. Firstly, the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
name for plants now known in English as "heather" was "''ἐρείκη''", believed to be Latinised by Pliny
Pliny may refer to:
People
* Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'')
* Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...
as "Erica". Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...
, who predominantly wrote in Latin, used ''Erica
Erica or ERICA may refer to:
* Erica (given name)
* ''Erica'' (plant), a flowering plant genus
* Erica (chatbot), a service of Bank of America
* ''Erica'' (video game), a 2019 FMV video game
* ''Erica'' (spider), a jumping spider genus
* E ...
'' as the name of the genus which still is known as such.
However, when Linnaeus named an organism, using a specific epithet that described it as being like some particular thing, he commonly did so by appending the suffix "''—οειδης''". That was a contraction of "''—ο + ειδος''", denoting a likeness of form. In its Latinised form it became: "''—oides''". An example is the entry 9413 ''Stilbe ericoides'' according to Wappler's ''Index Plantarum'' to Linnaeus' "''Species Plantarum''". Further derivations emerged at need or convenience, such as "''—oidea''".
Accordingly, ericoid could have more than one meaning and it has been misapplied from time to time in the literature. For example, sometimes a writer uses it where the correct word would be "ericaceous", meaning a member of, or related to, the family Ericaceae
The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it th ...
. More precisely ericoid means "resembling an Erica" in some relevant way.Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon;'' A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Derivation and Accent''; Published by Gerald Duckworth & Co. London, 4th ed 1928 In practice the commonest use is in reference to a plant's habit, in particular its leaves. The term is not precise, but "ericoid leaves" is a convenient way to describe small, tough (sclerophyll
Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...
ous) leaves like those of heather. Applied to a plant, ericoid generally means that apart from its sclerophyllous leaves, it has short internodes so that the leaves more or less cover the usually slender branch
A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term ''twig'' usually ...
lets.
References
{{Reflist Botany