Magnol - Eponymy

Eponymy

In 1703 Charles Plumier (1646-1704) named a flowering tree from the island of Martinique Magnolia, after Magnol. The name was later adopted by William Sherard, when he did the nomenclatural parts of Hortus Elthamensis by Johann Jacob Dillenius, and The Natural History of Carolina by Mark Catesby, to denote a flowering tree now known as Magnolia virginiana, taking it for the same species as described by Plumier. Linnaeus took over this name in the first edition of Species plantarum, including references to both Plumier's and Sherard's names. This way, Magnolia became the name of the large genus of ornamental flowering trees as we know it to date. See Origin of the name Magnolia.