I discovered this little book in a letter to the editor in Fine Gardening magazine several years ago. It's a real treasure. Any botanical or biological term can be broken into parts and the meaning can be found in Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms.

It's small enough to carry anywhere and really helps decipher the reasoning behind the names. It's a favorite with naturalist because of its depth of information. It has both Latin and Greek roots. Wordsmiths rejoice!

Author: Daniel Boror
McGraw Hill