> Another common problem is the misuse of Latin endings -- e.g., 'variegata'
> versus 'variegatus'. I find this sort of thing very frequently, and never
> having studied Latin, let alone botanical Latin, I am often at a loss as to
> which is correct...
As an adjective, the ending on variegata/us varies according to the
'gender' of the thing it is describing. It would be a fair guess that
if the genus/species ended in 'a', then 'variegata' would be correct,
whereas with a masculine noun (sometimes ending in -us, I can only
think of Cephalotus in the CP world, which isn't known for its
variegation), then 'variegatus' would be appropriate.
-- Clarke Brunt (clarke@brunt.demon.co.uk)