regale
/ray-GAH-lee/🏷️ Taxonomy● Basic
Also known as: regalis
An aesthetic epithet reserved for plants of commanding presence, whose size, poise or flower quality suggests royalty rather than mere prettiness. This is the neuter ending of the -alis adjective, a separate word from the -ius adjective behind regia. Appears as regalis (both genders) or regale (neuter).
Etymology
From Latin regalis, meaning "royal," from rex/regis (king).
Example
“Lilium regale (regal lily) and Osmunda regalis (royal fern) both earn the epithet, one for its great trumpet flowers and the other for the scale of its fronds.”