A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Exsiccata,-ae (s.f.I): dried plant specimens, an exsiccat, for sale or offered by subscription by the collector and forming an herbarium of identified material for a variety of purposes, to educate, to exemplify taxonomic or floristic conclusions. Printed labels often accompany the specimens. The full title is flora exsiccata; (in bryophytes) ‘dried plant; usually referring to widely distributed sets of specimens, with printed labels, that are used as standards for comparison” (Magill 1990); see centuria,-ae; dekas,-adis; scheda,-ae; fasciculus,-i; see exsiccatus,-a,-um (part.A);

Also titles with -theca,-ae (s.f.I); theco-: in Gk. comp., -cover, -case, -container;

- bibliotheca,-ae (s.f.I): library, collection, list or catalogue of books.

- used of various exsiccatae: Bryotheca Braziliensis, Hepaticotheca Polonica.

NOTE: the noun ‘exsiccata’ is a participle [‘exsiccatus,-a,-um (part.A), q.v.] modifying the noun, ‘flora,-ae (s.f.I). The ending varies when the type of plant is expressed, such as alga,-ae (s.f.I), fungus,-I (s.m.II), muscus,-i (s.m.II) or a generic name, such as Bryum,-i (s.n.II). When in a collection, the plural endings are used:

Algae exsiccatae; Fungi exsiccate, Musci exsiccati; Brya exsiccate. One knows if an exsiccate is referred to if there are printed labels numbered in sequence;

- Musci Europaei Exsiccati, dried mosses of Europe (an exsiccata).