A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

bellus,-a,-um (adj.A): beautiful, handsome (Stearn 1996).

NOTE: this is not a Greek word, as the form of the declension may indicate, but is classical Latin (the genus described by Linnaeus). The stem is bellid-. In the name Bellidiaster montanus Dumort. = Aster bellidiastrum Scop. False Aster, the ‘i’ before the suffix -‘aster’ is a connecting vowel and not part of the stem bellid-. This vowel is elided before the initial vowel -a- of -aster, hence Bellidaster is the correct spelling. Note the suffix -aster does not relate to the genus Aster, but to the noun/adjective suffix -aster,-astra,-astrum (adj.A), which may mean ‘false;’ see -aster.

Bellis graminea, B. longifolia, B. hybrida, B. microcephala.

Aster bellidiflorus, with the flowers of Bellis; Carphephorus bellidifolius (Michx.) T. & G., with the leaves of Bellis, the English Daisy.