A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Cynodon,-dontis (s.m.III): > Gk. cyon, dog + odous, tooth “from the close rows of tooth-like spikelets” (Fernald 1950); “probably in allusion to the tooth-like sheaths on the stolons” (Bailey); Cynodon, Richard. “derived from kuon, a dog, and odous, a tooth Graminaceae” (Paxton [> L. cynodon, -ontis (adj.B) “having pairs of projecting teeth” (Lewis & Short); although -odon,-dontis in Gk. compounds is a masculine noun element > Gk. odous or odon, gen. sg. odontos (s.m.III]; see -odon,-dontis (s.m.III)].

- CYNODON. Spicae ad apicem pedunculi 2 - 6, digitatae. Spiculae parvae, exaristatae, rhachilla ultra florem non v. in stipitem brevem producta. Gluma florens vacuis brevior v. longior. (Gramineae) (B&H); spikes at the apex of the peduncle 2-6, digitate [i.e. like fingers, but not palmate]. The spikelets small, lacking awns, the rhachilla extended beyond the flower not or on a short stipe [i.e. stalk]. Flowering glume shorter than the empty [i.e. sterile] or longer.

Cynodontium [moss]: “the [generic] name refers to a supposed resemblance of the peristome teeth of [Cynodontium] bruntonii (Sm.) BSG to the teeth of a dog (in this species, the teeth are irregular and unequally fleft, with the divisions sometimes united and then somewhat resembling canine teeth” (C&A). Cynodon was also the generic name of a moss, cf. Cynodon inclinatus Brid. = Cynodontium inclinatum, Hedw. Sp. Musc. = Distichium inclinatum.