[4] Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle described the language in 1880: C'est le latin arrangé par Linné à l'usage des descriptions et, j'oserai dire, à l'usage de ceux qui n'aiment ni les complications grammaticales, ni les phrases disposées sens desus dessous."
(Quoted by W. T. Stearn[5]) [It is the Latin chosen by Linnaeus for the purpose of descriptions, and, I dare to say, for the use of those who love neither grammatical complications nor phrases arranged with senses on top of one another.
[5] William T. Stearn wrote:[6] Botanical Latin is best described as a modern Romance language of special technical application, derived from Renaissance Latin with much plundering of ancient Greek, which has evolved, mainly since 1700 and primarily through the work of Carl Linnaeus (1707–78), to serve as an international medium for the scientific naming of plants in all their vast numbers and manifold diversity.
These include many thousands of plants unknown to the Greeks and Romans of classical times and for which names have had to be provided as a means of reference.
Their description necessitates the recording of structures often too small for comprehension by the naked eye, hence unknown to the ancients and needing words with precise restricted applications foreign to classical Latin.Latin names of organisms are generally used in English without alteration, but some informal derivatives are used as common names.
[8][9] Diacritics are not used in names, and a dieresis is considered an optional mark that does not affect spelling.
[4]"These rules cannot satisfactorily be applied to all generic names and specific epithets commemorating persons.