Skip to main content

    Aurantiacus

    /aw-ran-tee-AH-kus/
    🏷️ Taxonomy●● Intermediate

    Also known as: aurantiaca, aurantiacum

    A color epithet describing a true orange — midway between yellow and red, the color of a ripe orange fruit. It is the primary orange epithet in botanical Latin, more precise than the reddish-orange of coccineus or the yellow-orange of croceus. Appears as aurantiacus (masculine), aurantiaca (feminine), or aurantiacum (neuter).

    Etymology

    From New Latin aurantiacus, from aurantium (orange fruit), from Medieval Latin aurantia, from Arabic naranj (orange), from Persian narang.

    Example

    Crocosmia 'Aurantiaca', Eccremocarpus scaber var. aurantiacus, and Geum 'Aurantiacum' all carry the pure, mid-orange tone this epithet promises — neither yellow nor red, but the exact, saturated orange of a ripe fruit.