Saturday, August 18, 2007

More characters

Help. I need the latin names of trees that grow around chestnuts. They will form the basis of several character names, both masculine and feminine, in sound as well as gender.

I had a male nymph step out of the shadows last night and whoa, is he hot! Phew! I think he's my next hero. He has plenty to say. Too bad I don't have time to listen to all of it. Man, does he have backstory. Unfortunately for the current story, he would like to kill my heroine. He's Nea's mother's current lover. Guardian. Protector. Nameless, as is the mother.

I'm going to have to dedicate this book to everyone who keeps doing my research for me. You all know who you are. I thank you sincerely. Getting up every night with a sick dog, repeatedly throughout the night, is killing more brain cells than I can spare. It's good to have people that fill in the gaps.

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:59 AM

    http://www.arborday.org/trees/treeguide/TreeDetail.cfm?ID=105

    This is the link to the National Arbor Day Foundation's listing for Chinese Chestnut. It wants hot, dry climate. So, I guess your other characters should be named Joshua Tree, Manzanita, Oleander, etc. Joking. But this is a place to start.

    pozer--someone who pretends to have been in the movie GHOSTBUSTERS.

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  2. Anonymous9:35 AM

    http://www.acf.org/default.htm

    I got to wondering why NADF had listed Chinese Chestnut but not American Chestnut. The answer can be found at the link above.

    kknikv--a kitchen carving tool with double-serrated edge.

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  3. American chestnut:Castanea dentata; hardiness zones 5-8, requires sun; wide range of soil types, almost wiped out by blight.
    Chinese chestnut: Castanea mollissima, doesn't do well in alkaline soils. (American probably doesn't, either)
    Am. chestnut was native to the Great Eastern Forest that covered most of the eastern US and Canada before the white man came with the ax. Sooooo

    Oak:Quercus, White oak (Q. alba), red oak (Q. rubra), pin oak (Q. palustris), willow oak (Q. phellos), chestnut oak (Q. prinus), post oak (Q. stellata).

    Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum), black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), pignut hickory (Carya glabra), shagbark hickory (C. ovata), beech (Fagus grandifolia), red maple (Acer rubrum), sugar maple (A. saccharum), dogwood (cornus florida).

    I can go on. But this may be enough. BTW Chinese chestnuts, not native (am supposing you wanted only native species) is a tree from HE((. The nuts are encased in a VERY spiney husk that will penetrate dog's feet, thin soled-shoes, fingers.

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  4. Anonymous5:44 PM

    Now what did Ky eat?

    I hope he's ok. Virtual hugs for him and you and belly scritches for him - to be delivered in person in a month - can't wait!

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  5. Anonymous7:20 PM

    Maybe you can just call him "Woody." Take that anyway you want.

    teehee

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  6. From: 2020site.org/trees/chestnut.html

    "growing as it will even in poor, sandy soil, or under the shade of fir-trees, it is a good deal planted as cover for game. In this situation it enlivens with its bright foliage the somber depths of the forest of red-stemmed Scotch firs, contrasting also with the dull sap-green of the heather and with the chrome of the birch-leaves, whilst in the park it keeps its brightness longer than the beech, and reflects more light than the bracken at its feet."

    I suppose you could call one Bracken.

    rrmizl: He wanted her to let down her hair, but she couldn't understand him with his mouth full.

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  7. me: LOL

    well, for a villian: Blight, Cryph (for Cryphonectria parasitica), Thia (for Endothia parasitica), Cota or Comy or Ascom (for Ascomycota).

    i really like Cryph, but i think that's more a guy's name.

    Allegheny Chinkapin


    here's another site:
    http://www.songonline.ca/nuts/chestnut.htm

    ((ky))

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  8. i like the name bracken too

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  9. The spiffo thing about nyssa sylvatica is that, although nyssa is a nice, sweet name, the gum tree itself encloses its seeds in what's called a gumball. And lots of 'em. Really! That gumball is a spikey monster. I have to pick them up barehanded because the spikes will attach to gloves. So, a nice-seeming girl named Nyssa has a real sharp edge to her.

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  10. I just came home from my writer's group meeting where I announced my character names and see even more reasons why Bracken and Nyssa are so right. You guys are the best. I thank you sincerely.

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  11. What's up with Ky? Is she feeling spry? For that matter, how are you and Scope doing?

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