A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

generalis,-e (adj.B): prevailing; normal (Stearn 1996); “opposed to partial, as a general involucre” (Jackson); general, common, common to all; general, of or relating to all [> L., based on ‘genus,-eris (s.n.III) of or belonging to a kind or species, generic; of or relating to all, general; syn. universalis,-e (adj.B), q.v., universal, general, of or belonging to the whole; opp. singulus,-a,-um (adj.A), q.v., distributively: one to each, each, each one (individually), an individual (of a group or bundle); opp. ‘special’, q.v.; cf. ‘partial,’ relating to a part or portion, also “partial in botany usually means secondary, as partial involucre, Partial Peduncle, Partial Petiole and Partial Umbel; it is opposed to ‘general’” (Jackson);

general involucre: “that which is at the base of a compound umbel” (Jackson): involucrum (s.n.II) generale (adj.B), abl. sg. involucro generali;

- involucro generali oligophyllo, partiali subunilaterali pleiophyllo umbellulae aequilongo, utriusque foliolis lanceolato-linearibus acuminatis (F. Mueller), with the general involucre few-leaved, secondary involucre nearly unilateral [i.e. one-sided], many-leaved, equal in length to the umbellule, with the leaflets of both [of either of the two] lanceolate-linear, acuminate.

partial or secondary involucre, “that which surrounds a partial umbel” (Jackson): involucrum partiale, abl. sg. involucro partiale.

NOTE: Lewis & Short indicated the (rarely used) classical usage was “of or belonging to a kind or species, generic.” Botanists appear to have used the word with this meaning in a taxonomic sense, as of the taxonomic genus. ‘General,’ i.e. common to a genus, family, etc. “Partialis,-e (adj. B), meaning ‘partial,’ of or belonging to a part, suggests that a character may be ‘general,’ i.e. characteristic of a genus, and ‘partial’ refers to some species in the genus departing from the generic norm in some character or other; see ‘partial;’.

- [Gitonophytum species] bractea, fructificationi subjecta, generalis & partialis; generalis polyphylla; partialis, monophylla; alia diphylla; tetraphylla & nulla (Necker), the bract, under the fructification, general [i.e. the normal for the genus] and partial [i.e. secondary in the genus]: the normal [bract] polyphyllous; the secondary [i.e. bract of some species] monophyllous; the others [in the genus] are diphyllous, tetraphyllous and none. - ordine diversa speciebus simul generalibus simul partialibus, with an order diverse with species partly general [i.e. normal for the genus], partly special [i.e. atypical].