A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Cactus,-i (s.m.II), abl.sg. cacto: “= Gk. kaktos, a prickly plant with edible stalks, etc., found in Sicily, ‘Spanish artichoke:’ Cynara cardunculus, L.; anything thorny, unpleasant” (Lewis & Short) [> Gk. kaktos (s.f.I): cardoon, Cynara Cardunculus; also kaktos (s.m.II), the fruit; also the edible leaf (Liddell & Scott)].

Cactus (Eng.noun): a genus of globose spiny plants (Cactaceae)’ (after WIII).

Cactus,-i (s.m.II) L., pre-Linnaean synonyms – Cereus, Opuntia, Melocactus, Tuna, Pereskia (according to Linnaeus); see Opus,-untis (s.f.III), see tuna,-ae (s.f.I).

Hamatocactus,-i (s.n.II), > L. hamatus, hooked + cactus; “referring to the long central spine of each areole which is usually hooked at its tip.” (Stearn 1996).

Cactus,-i (s.m.III), abl.sg. cacto: “name applied by the ancient Greeks to some spiny plant in no way connected with these American plants. Strictly Cactus [i.e. the genus] was the name of one genus only, but it has been adopted loosely as a vernaculer name for the whole family Cactaceae, comprising about 85 genera and 2,000 species” (Stearn 1996).

Cactus cell: “photosynthetic, “opuntia-like” -appearing cells in the air chambers of certain complex thalloid liverworts (Marchantiales)” (Magill 1990): cellula cactiformis (adj.B); cellula opuntioides, opuntoidea or opuntiformis.