The story
A Latinised version of the Japanese name for the plant, 南天 (ナンテン, nanten), first used by Carl Peter Thunberg.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
nandina
Today it means: Heavenly bamboo or sacred bamboo, an ornamental plant of species Nandina domestica, sole member of genus Nandina (in family Berberidaceae), native to east Asia from the Himalayas to Japan. Full definition →