An etymology of Australian bryophyte genera. 2 — Mosses

‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master—that’s all.’ — Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass, chapter 6 Most of the names of bryophyte genera are derived from Greek and Latin stems but also often from personal names, some of which have been obscured by the passage of time. This paper sets out as much as can be established about the true etymology of the names of all moss genera accepted for Australia (Flora of Australia 2006), and complements a similar paper on Australian liverwort and hornwort genera (Meagher 2008). For the sake of regional completeness I have also included moss genera known from New Zealand as listed by Fife (1995). The etymologies of generic and species names are often included in floras, but they are rarely taken from the original sources and are very often wrong. Worse still are the attempts to ‘translate’ names into English, on the assumption that this will make things easier or more interesting for the beleaguered reader struggling with classical languages. Samuel Gray was probably the first major culprit in this regard, when he coined such idiocies as Stinking Naked-foot for Gymnopus graveolens, Gelatinous Hedgehog-stool for Steccherinum ochraceum, Fireproof Spring-moss for Fontinalis antipyretica and Mis-shapen Elisa for Elisa distorta (Gray 1821a), and replaced evocative and often instructive names with lifeless translations, such as Biting Stone-crop instead of Jack of the Buttery, and Odorous Spiraea instead of Meadow Sweet (Gray 1821b). In Gray’s defence, he may have been encouraged by the efforts of ‘A Botanical Society at Litchfield’ in translating Linnaeus (Linne 1783). Johnson (1980) continued the tradition when she presented the world with more than 130 new ‘English names based on the original scientific names’ for mosses, including Mueller’s Horizontal Tooth Moss for Syrrhopodon muelleri, Dubious Bladder Moss for Vesicularia dubyana and Uncovered Nipple Moss for Taxithelium instratum. Unfortunately it is not always easy to understand the original intentions of authors of the names included here, particularly William