A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

splachno-: in Gk. comp. from Gk. σπλάγχνον (splanchnon), entrail, viscera, the organs in the body cavity (also transliterated splagchnon); see gut.

Cf. Splanchoptes,-ae (s.f.I) = Gk. splanchnoptEs, “the roaster of entrails; a bronze status by Styppax (in Pliny)” (Lewis & Short).

Cf. splanchnis (Eng.adj.) “of or relating to the viscera: visceral” (WIII); cf. splanchnology: “a branch of anatomy concerned with the viscera” (WIII).

- Usnea vulgaris, the “Stringy Tree-Moss, or Usnea of the Shops”} Docente Caesalpino L. 16. C. 23. “Illud genus Musci, quod privatim Splachnon vocant, ex vetustis quibusdam arboribus pendet, absque radice: veluti pediculi sunt ramosi, sine foliis, longissimi instar jubae, colore candido, aut cinereo” (Dill.), Caesalpinus related (book 16, Chapter 23) “that genus of Moss, which they call privately Splachnum, hangs from certain old trees, without a root: as if the pedicles are branched, without leaves, are extremely long like a mane, a shining white color, or grayish-white.”

- Splachnum Linn. Emend: Nomen graeceum (σπλάγχνον) dioscorideum lichens pulmonarius nunc Stictus designans, a Linnaeo Splachnaceis omnibus impositum et ab Hedwigio sancitum” (C. Muell.), the Greek Disoscoridean name (Splanchnon) designating the lung-like lichens now designated [the genus] Stictus, imposed by Linnaeus on all the Splachnaceous species [Splachnaceae] and blessed [i.e. approved] by Hedwig.

Splachnum [moss] (from the ancient Greek noun σπλάγχνον(splanchnon, modern splachnon)), meaning entrails or viscera, and used by Dioscorides as an alternative to the Greek noun βρύον, generally rendered as ‘moss,’ which, over the millenia, could be any non-vascular cryptogam, some of which resemble naked guts. The generic name was applied to several moss genera before Hedwig. Carl Mueller suggested the generic name was applied to various pulmonarioid (lunglike) lichens, called by the generic name Sticta in his time. Hedwig blessed (adopted) Linnaeus’ genus Splachnum and its species. The suggestion of ‘entrails’ has alluded to the dried, wrinkled, often red-purple base (apophysis) of the capsule of some species of these minute plants.