A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

India,-ae (s.f.I):

1. India,-ae (s.f.IP: Indian subcontinent, or the ‘Indies’ (adj. indicus) (Stearn) [> L. “India, a country extending from the Indus to China; India citerior = India this side of the Ganges; India ulterior = India beyond the Ganges” (Lewis & Short)];

- ea genera beluarum, quae in Rubro Mari Indiave gignantur (Cicero); those types of giant animals which can be produced at the Red Sea or India.

Indiae (pl.f.I), India utraque: each of BOTH East Indies and West Indies (Stearn);

Indiae: India utraque: “BOTH East Indies and West Indies” (Stearn).

- Arbores omnium maximas & altissimas India utraque aliasque regiones fervidae producunt: qua calor maxime viget (Ray), each India [i.e. both East and West Indies] and other sweltering hot regions produce the biggest and tallest trees of all, in which the heat flourishes the most.

2. India occidentalis, West Indies: also Antillae,-arum (pl.f.I), q.v., adj. antillanus,-a,-um (adj.A), antillicus,-a,-um (adj.A).

After Wikipedia: West Indies New World: island region of Caribbean and North Atlantic Ocean (Bahamas; Turks; Caicos Islands), the Antilles (Greater and Lesser) and Lucayan (Bahamian) Archipelago.

- [Psychotria asiatica] distincta species Indiae orientalis ab illa ex India occidentali (Swartz), a species of the East Indies distinct from that in the West Indies.

- sponte provenit in Indiae occidentalis locis, ubi antea culta fuit (Swartz), it comes forth spontaneously in places in the West Indies, where formerly it was cultivated.

- [Maranta] Canna indica radice alba, alexipharmaca (Swartz), Canna indica with a white root, an antidote.

- Culta in India occidentali (Swartz), cultivated in western India [i.e. West Indies].

- habitat c. praec. in ruderatis Indiae occidentalis (Swartz), it grows with the preceding in the trash heaps of the West Indies].

- Observationes Botanicae quibus Plantae Indiae Occidentalis alliaeque Systematis Vegetabilium Ed. XIV Illustrantur Earumque Characteres Passim Emendatur Auctore Olavo Swartz M.D., Botanical Observations from which the Plants of West Indies are Illustrated and Other [sc. Observationes] of a Plant System Ed. 14, and in many places their Characters improved by the Author Olav Swartz, M.D.

[Olav Swartz 1741 – 1783; Swedish botanist and taxonomist; sailed for West Indies, “primarily in the area of Jamaica and Hispaniola” (Wikipedia viewed Sept. 6, 2026).

Societas Indiae Occidentalis, a West Indian mercantile company.

3. India orientalis; India and the East Indies (Stearn); also Indiae Orientales (East Indies).

After Wikipedia: East Indies (or simply the Indies: Old World: various lands in the East or Eastern Hemisphere, islands and mainlands in and around the Indian Ocean; ca. 15-17 century (South and Southeast Asia: Indian subcontinent, Indochinese Peninsula, Malay Archipelago;

- [Psychotria asiatica] distincta species Indiae orientalis ab illa ex India occidentali (Swartz), a species of the East Indies distinct from that in the West Indies.

- [Urena sinuata] ab Indica orientali non separari debet (Swartz), it ought not to be separated from Indica orientalis [= Erythrina indica].

- [Hedysarum triflorum] ab Indica orientali distingui non potest (Swartz), it cannot be distinguished from Indica orientalis [= Erythrina indica].

East India company: Mercaturae in India Orientali Faciendae Societas [Society for the Conduct of Trade in East India].

Mercaturae in India Orientali Faciendae Societas: East India company. [Society for the conduct of trade in the East Indies].

Societas Mercaturae Indiae Orientalis, East-India Company [Society for the Trade of East India].