coleus

See also: Coleus

English

typical coleus leaf clusters

From the genus name translingual Coleus, from Latin coleus, from Ancient Greek κολεός (koleós, “sheath”) in reference to the manner in which the stamens are united.

coleus (plural coleuses)

Any of certain plants in the mint family, many used as ornamentals for their colorful, variegated leaves, sometime included in genus Plectranthus (spurflowers), sometimes in their own genus Coleus,
1. especially, Plectranthus scutellarioides, also known as Coleus scutellarioides and Coleus blumei.

plant with bright-colored or variegated leaves

Uncertain. Possibly akin to cūleus, culleus (“sack”); caulis, cōlis (“stalk”); or cōlum (“sieve”).^[1]

cōleus m (genitive cōleī); second declension

(vulgar, in the plural) sack (scrotum or testicles)
(figurative) courage
- c. 27 CE – 66 CE, Petronius, Satyricon 44.14:
  Sed si nos coleos haberemus, non tantum sibi placeret.
  But if we had the balls, he'd not be so pleased with himself!

“culleus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
coleus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “cōleī”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 124