GENDER OF GENERIC NAMES, PARTICULARLY THOSE ENDING IN MA, IN THE NAMES IN CURRENT USE LIST

A historical review of the Code provisions concerning gender is given. Not all generic names ending in the letter ''a'' are feminine. Indeed , a majority of those ending in -ma are neuter. A general rule is that names ending with the same element have the same gender. Some guideli nes are offered here and due consideration is given to generic names t hat break the pattern. Neither is it appropriate to blindly impose cla ssical gender nor uncritically accept what the original author did. Ma jor weight must be given to botanical usage. These principles have bee n applied to more than 1200 names appearing in the generic names in cu rrent use (NCU) list.