A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Astrum,-i (s.n.II), abl.sg. astro = Gk. astron, q.v.; usu in pl.: “a celestial luminary, star; in pl. night; any one of the seven heavenly bodies (including the sun and moon) known to the ancients which appear to move in relation to the fixed stars, a planet; a constellation, esp. one of the signs of the zodiac: pl. the sky, the upper air, the heavens” (GLARE); derived from Gk. astEr, ‘star, constellation;’ cf. aster,-eris (s.m.II).

= Gk. astron,-i (s.n.II), a Greek word used mostly in the plural: the stars; the fixed stars; in singular, like astEr,-eris (s.m.III), q.v.; = Latin astrum,-i (s.n.II), q.v.; cf. aster,-eris (s.m.III).


      singular  plural
Nom.  astrum    astra
Gen.  astri     astrorum
Dat.  astro     astris
Acc.  astrum    astra
Abl.  astro     astris

NOTE: nouns compounded with ‘astrum’ q.v., have no –e- before the –r-. Nouns compounded with aster, q.v. retain the –e-.

NOTE: prefixes in astro- derive from ‘astrum,-i (s.n.II),’ a star, e.g. Astrosporium,-ii (s.n.II); those in ‘aster-, astero- derive from aster,-eris (s.m.III).

Astraeus hygrometricus (Pers.)Morgan. hygroscopic earthstar, the barometer earthstar, or the false earthstar = Lycoperdon stellatus; Geastrum stellatum; Astraeus stellatus.

Astranthium Nutt. (Asteraceae) from the Greek astron, star, and anthos, flower.

Astrantia L. (Apiaceae) 'name in allusion to the star-like appearance of the umbels’(Bailey 1924).

Astrophytum,-i (s.n.II) > astron, ‘star,’ + phyton, ‘plant’ (Cactaceae), perhaps from the daisy-like flowers.

Astrosporium, Kunze. > astron, a star, and spora, a sporule, alluding to the form of the sporules. Uredinaceae (Paxton).

Geastrum,-i (s.n.II), Pers., abl.sg. Geastro: ‘earth-stars,’ a genus of puffballs > Gk. geo, earth + aster, star, from the star-like pattern of the outer peridium when, with maturity, it splits and recurves toward the ground into star-like rays; orthographic variant Geaster,-eris (s.m.II), a masculine third declension noun, not used.

NOTE: ‘ad astra,’ a phrase in Latin, = ‘to the stars;’ ‘sic itur ad astra,’ = ‘so one goes to the stars’ (Virgil); ‘apta ardua pennis astra sequi’ = ‘desire on wings to pursue the arduous stars’ Virgil; ‘non est ad astra mollis e terris via’ = ‘there is no soft (i.e. easy) way from the earth to the stars’ (Seneca).

Mary, Queen of Scots, in her imprisonment embroidered “ad astra per aspera,” “to the stars through trials.”