A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Bacca,-ae (s.f.I): berry, q.v.; “a berry; that is to say, a succulent seed-vessel, filled with pulp, in which the seeds nestle, as in Solanum” (Lindley) [> L. bacca,-ae s.f.I, a berry (a preferred spelling in English, but note that in classical Latin the spelling is more correctly ‘baca,-ae’); bacca lauri, laural berry, esp. the fruit of the olive; any fruit of a round shape; anything of the shape of a berry, such as a pearl (Lewis & Short)]; see berry.

Bacca corticata (adj.A), “a berry having a rind; as an Orange” (Lindley); 'berry with a rind' has been applied to the ovary (Jackson). Bacca sicca (adj.A): “a fruit which is a berry when unripe, but becomes a dry body when ripe” (Lindley); succulent while unripe, dry when mature (Jackson). Bacca spuria (adj.A) any fleshy fruit which is not a true berry, as [the juniper,] raspberry and straw-berry (Jackson); see coccus;

- baccas in fictili aut aheno per se ad mediocrem consistentiam coquunt, nullo addito liquore (Ray), they cook the berries in an earthern or a brass [or copper, sc. vessel], as such, to a medium consistency [i.e. thickness], with no liquid added.

- baccae parvae virescentes serotinae (DeCandolle), berries small, greenish, serotinous [i.e. late in ripening].

- baccae saepius stipitatae, inter semina constrictae, moniliformes, rarius ovoideae, continuae (B&H), berries very often stalked, narrowed between the seeds, moniliform, more rarely ovoid.

- bacca spongiosa, aculeata, irregulariter rupta, sepalis persistentibus coronata (B&H), berries spongy, prickly, irregularly ruptured, crowned with persistent sepals.

- fructu carpella mutantur in achenia sicca, indehiscentia, et monosperma, v. in baccas mono- v. oligo-spermas (B&H) the carpels in fruit are changed into dry achenes, indehiscent, and with a single seed, or into one- or few-seeded berries.

- baccae stipitatae, erostres, the berries stalked, beakless.

- baccae connatae v. discretae, the berries connate [i.e. fused together] or discrete [separated].

- onerat [varietas a] coelo vernali madente Rhamni utriusque (cathartici aeque ac Frangulae) folia, petiolos, pedunculos, flores , baccas; [variety a [of this fungus] in moist spring weather burdens the leaves, the petioles, peduncles, flowers, berries of both species of Rhamnus (cathartica equally as much as Frangula).

- baccae 1-3-spermae nunc coccineae, nunc caeruleae (B&H), berries 1-3-seeded, sometimes scarlet, sometimes blue.

- bacca vix drupacea, indehiscens, pericarpio succulento, endocarpio membranaceo 3-loculari (B&H), the berry scarcely drupaceous, indehiscent, with a succulent pericarp, with a membranaceous endocarp that is 3-locular.

NOTE: spurious or false fruit: fructus (s.m.IV) spurius (adj.A): “certain kinds of inflorescence which grow up with the fruit, and form one body with it, as a Pine cone” (Lindley).

- carpella 10-20 coalita in baccam spuriam multilocularem stigmatibusque radiantibus coronalam (DeCandolle), carpels 10-20 fused into a multilocular spurious berry and crowned with the radiating stigmas.

Baccula,-ae (s.f.I), a small berry.

Bibacca,-ae (s.f.I), abl. sg. bibacca: bibacca, “a fused double berry, as in Lonicera” (Radford et al. 1974), a type of multiple fruit, q.v. [> L. bi-, two + bacca,-ae (s.f.I): berry].