Latin is not as widely spoken as it once was, even among well-educated people. Therefore, names that were once self-explanatory have, for most of us, lost their simplicity and become obscure. Yet they can still be a memory-jog or an indication of what to look for in a plant, if one knows what they mean. This title is a mini-dictionary in which all the words occurring in names of trees in southern Africa (natural or cultivated) are listed alphabetically, with their meanings. The names listed in this title are of trees that are either indigenous, and have a National tree number, or exotic, and are cultivated and available through nurseries. Inevitably some species have names that have eluded the world-wide search for a meaningful derivation. Some of them are listed with the comment 'unknown', but a few, such as Nylandtia, Anginon and Flemingia have simply not been included.