A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Plaga,-ae (s.f.I), abl.sg. plaga:

1. = Gk. plEgE, “a blow, stroke, wound, stripe (syn.: ictus, verbera, vulnus); a blow (which wounds or injures), a stroke, cut, thrust; a wound; a welt, scar, stripe; a blow, stroke; an injury, misfortune; a plague, pestilence, infection; an affliction, annoyance; slaughter, destruction’ (Lewis & Short); Gk.a blow, stroke, stroke (by lightning) (of axes or swords)” (Liddell & Scott)]; pharm. Plaga,-ae (s.f.I), a wound, a cut (Bennitt);

NOTE: Eng. plague > L. plaga,-ae (s.f.I)”a disastrous evil or affliction; calamity; a destructive influx of a noxious animal: infestation (as of locusts); an epidemis disease, pestilence; an acute contagious febrile disease caused by a bacterium (Pasteurella pestis) ... usu. transmitted (as bubonic plague) from person to person” (after III).

- verbera et plagas repraesentare,‘stripes and blows.’

- with genitive: scorpionum et canum plagas sanare, to heal the wounds of scorpions and dogs.

- (pharm.) gingivas levibus plagis secare, Gingivas levibus plagis secare, to lance the gums {to make superficial incisions in the gums) (Bennitt).

2. a patch [> L. plaga,-ae (s.f.I) a hunting-net, snare, gin; a snare, trap; a bed-curtain, a curtain; cf. plagula or plagella,-ae (s.f.I), a bed-curtain, a curtain; a part of a garment which is to be sewed to the other parts, a breadth; a sheet of paper’ (Lewis & Short)]; a patch, i.e. a small piece of somethng; a sheet (lamina);

NOTE: plaga,-ae (s.f.I) may also indicate a more restricted area or space, a specific ‘region’ on an organ; see area,-ae (s.f.I);

NOTE: also a small area different from the area that surrounds it: e.g. a briar patch (spinney), a local thicket of spiny shrubs; a patch of ground covered with trees, a thicket is a patch of shrubs; [lichens] are commonly found as a surface growth on the bark of trees, on rocks, and soil, sometimes appearing as a "plaga" (Latin for a wide, thin layer or patch) or the “patchy” growth of crustose of leprose lichens. Plaga,-ae (s.f.I), may also indicate small regions, i.e. an ‘area;’ and, in lichens, like for ‘plagula,-ae (s.f.I),’ q.v., the word may indicate colonial growth, i.e.‘(large) colonies;’ NOTE: a “plaque” in English probably derives in part from this word, as in “an abnormal patch or flattened area on some body part of surface; a localized patch of skin disease” (WIII).

- plaga leprae, a plague of leprosy.

- [lichen] nonnumquam plaga tenuis visibilis est latior hypothallino-filamentosa (haud raro gelatina gloeocapsoidea instrata), ex elementis anatomicis cylndricis ramosis; in qua plaga oriuntur squamulae baseos thalli. (Nyl.), sometimes the PATCH is thin, visible, wider, hypothalline-filamentous (not rarely provided with a gloeocapsoid gelatine), with anatomic elements cylindric, branched; in which PATCH arise the squamules [i.e. little scales] of the thallus base. Gloeocapsis (a lichen genus).

- [lichen] supra saxa Insularum Mauritii et Borboniae (lectum a pluribus collectoribus, Commerson, Bory de St-Vincent, Richaard, etc.). Plagas saepe latas dense stipatum formare videtur (Nyl.), on the stone of the islands of Mauritius and of [the Island of] Bourbon [i.e. Reunion] (collected by many collectors, [such as] Commerson, Bory de St-Vincent, Richaard, etc. It seems they are often crowded together to form wide patches.

- [lichen] plagis thalli albido-glaucescentibus et apotheciis amoene carneis biatorinls insignis, praesertim statu vegeto (Nyl.), with the regions of the thallus whitish-glaucescent and with the apothecia biatorine beautifully carneous [i.e. flesh-colored, a pale orange yellow or pink] remarkable, especially in the fresh state [i.e. when fresh]. - [lichen] nonnumquam plaga tenuis visibilis est latior hypothallino-filamentosa (haud raro gelatina gloeocapsoidea instrata), ex elementis anatomicis cylndricis ramosis; in qua plaga oriuntur squamulae baseos thalli. (Nyl.), sometimes the patch is thin, visible, wider, hypothalline-filamentous (not rarely provided with a gloeocapsoid gelatine), with anatomic elements cylindric, branched; in which patch arise the squamules [i.e. little scales] of the thallus base.

-(moss) folia nervo medio crasso, s. potius plaga lata e cellulis angustis elongatis exstructa, praedita (Hooker), with the nerve [i.e. costa] thick in the middle, or [s. = seu] rather provided with a broad patch constructed from narrow, elongate cells.

- [lichen] Thallus albidus veì pallide flavido-cinerascens tenuiter granuloso-crustaceus plagas incrustantes plus minus latas formans, e quibüs emergunt podetia clavato-cylindracea vel cylindracea, simplicia aut ramulosa minora (Nyl.), the thallus whitish or pale yellow-gray thinly granulose-crustaceous forming broad encrusting areas, from which emerge smaller clavate-cylindric or cylindric, simple or branched podetia.

3. flat surface; region, tract, zone, area; district, canton, territory; particularly refering to the regions of the sky, i.e. the four quarters (north, east, south, west, septentrionalis, orientalis, australis, occidentalis); see notes below; see tract; see plateau (tableland);

- plaga ardens or plaga fervida, the torrid zone.

- plaga septentrionalis, northern region.

- plaga,-ae (s.f.I) meridionalis, the southern region.

- ad orientalem plagam, on the east, in the eastern quarter.

- HAB. In plaga occidentali Americae Borealis (Hooker), it dwells in the northern region of boreal [North] America.

- ad septentrionalem plagam collis, on the northern side of the hill.

- lemma princeps lanceolatum, quinquenervium, laeve per plagas, pilosum prope marginem et secundum medinervum ad basas, principle lemma lanceolate, 5-nerved, smooth on the flat areas (=laminae), pilose near and margine and the second [sc. lemma] at the bases along the midnerve.

- in plaga paludosa litorali inter sinum regis Georgii et ostium fluvii Gordon detexit (F. Mueller), detected in the swampy coastal region between the bay of king George and the mouth of the Gordon River.

- in locis ripariis ad partes fluvii Victoria superiores nec non in plaga elevata (Table land) ad originem rivi Sturt's Creek (F. Mueller), in riparian places in the upper parts of the Victoria river and also in the elevated region (Table land) at the source of the stream Sturt’s Creek.

- a tractu montium Expedition Range usque ad plagam altam Buckland's tableland in montibus nemorosis basalticis 1000-2000' altis (F. Mueller), from the territory of the Expedition Range mountains to the Buckland’s tableland high district in wooded basalt mountains.

- in plagis orientalibus cap. Bonae-Spei ultra Orange flumen (DeCandolle), in eastern regions of the Cape of Good Hope beyond the Orange river.

- species paucae etiam per varias plagas utriusque orbis inquilinae (B&H), a few species also introduced throughout various regions of both sides of the globe [i.e. both the North and Southern hemispheres, of Old and New Worlds].

- [lichen] in zona arctica el subarctica Cladonia rangiferina plagas vastas obtegens, in the arctic and subarctic zone, Cladonia rangiferina covering vast areas.

- [lichen] Inter muscos, supra terram et saxa, locis praesertim frigidioribus totius Europae, plagas latas saepe occupans (Nyl.) among mosses, over soil and stones, especially in the colder areas of all Europe, often occupying broad areas.

- [lichen] plagas saepe latas dense stipatum formare videtur (Nyl.), often it seems to form broad densely crowded areas.