pulcherrima

Pulcherrima is a Latin epithet meaning “very beautiful” or “most beautiful.” It derives from pulcher, meaning beautiful, with the superlative suffix -rimus and appears in the feminine form pulcherrima. In Latin adjective agreement, pulcherrima is the feminine nominative singular, and the epithet must agree in gender with the genus name, yielding pulcherrima for feminine genera, pulcherrimus for masculine genera, and pulcherrimum for neuter genera.

As a specific epithet, pulcherrima is used widely in scientific naming to describe a characteristic rather than implying a closer evolutionary relationship. It appears in botanical, zoological, and mycological taxa, among others, and is found in formal taxonomic descriptions across diverse groups. Because it is an adjective rather than a proper noun, it is not capitalized in scientific names.

The use of pulcherrima conveys a qualitative assessment by the author naming the taxon, rather than indicating a fixed trait shared across a broader group. The epithet alone does not define taxonomic placement; the full species description, including genus, diagnostic characters, and type specimens, determines its circumscription. In practice, many species across various lineages bear the epithet pulcherrima, reflecting the perceived beauty of the organism as noted by the describer. See also binomial nomenclature and Latin grammar in taxonomic naming.