Botanical nomenclature

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Botanical nomenclature is the formal, scientific naming of plants. It is related to, but distinct from

Fossil plants
are also covered by the code of nomenclature.

Within the limits set by that code there is another set of rules, the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP) which applies to plant cultivars that have been deliberately altered or selected by humans (see cultigen).

Botanical nomenclature is independent of other systems of nomenclature, for example

Iris
in animals).

History and scope

Botanical nomenclature has a long history, going back beyond the period when Latin was the scientific language throughout Europe, to

Benedictine, and the purpose of those early herbals was primarily medicinal rather than plant science per se. It would require the invention of the printing press (1450) to make such information more widely available.[1][2][3]

De Historia Stirpium Commentarii Insignes
(1542).

A key event was Linnaeus’ adoption of binomial names for plant species in his Species Plantarum (1753).[4]

In the nineteenth century it became increasingly clear that there was a need for rules to govern scientific nomenclature, and initiatives were taken to refine the body of laws initiated by Linnaeus. These were published in successively more sophisticated editions. For plants, key dates are 1867 (lois de Candolle) and 1906 (International Rules of Botanical Nomenclature, 'Vienna Rules'). The most recent is the Shenzhen Code, adopted in 2018.

Another development was the insight into the delimitation of the concept of 'plant'. Gradually more and more groups of organisms are being recognised as being independent of plants. Nevertheless, the formal names of most of these organisms are governed by the (ICN), even today. Some

International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria
.

Relationship to taxonomy

Botanical nomenclature is closely linked to plant taxonomy, and botanical nomenclature serves plant taxonomy, but nevertheless botanical nomenclature is separate from plant taxonomy. Botanical nomenclature is merely the body of rules prescribing which name applies to that taxon (see

correct name
) and if a new name may (or must) be coined.

Plant

Chionodoxa siehei
:

Flowers of Chionodoxa siehei, which can also be called Scilla siehei, or included in Chionodoxa forbesii or in Scilla forbesii
  • Taxonomists can disagree as to whether two groups of plants are sufficiently distinct to be put into one species or not. Thus
    Chionodoxa forbesii have been treated as a single species by some taxonomists or as two species by others.[6] If treated as one species, the earlier published name must be used,[7]
    so plants previously called Chionodoxa siehei become Chionodoxa forbesii.
  • Taxonomists can disagree as to whether two genera are sufficiently distinct to be kept separate or not. While agreeing that the genus
    Chionodoxa is closely related to the genus Scilla, nevertheless the bulb specialist Brian Mathew considers that their differences warrant maintaining separate genera.[6] Others disagree, and would refer to Chionodoxa siehei as Scilla siehei. The earliest published genus name must be used when genera are merged;[7]
    in this case Scilla was published earlier and is used (not Chionodoxa).
  • Taxonomists can disagree as to the limits of families. When the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) first published its classification of the flowering plants in 1998, Chionodoxa siehei would have been placed in the family Hyacinthaceae.[8] In the 2009 revision of their classification, the APG no longer recognize the Hyacinthaceae as a separate family, merging it into a greatly enlarged family Asparagaceae.[9] Thus Chionodoxa siehei moves from the Hyacinthaceae to the Asparagaceae.
  • Taxonomists can disagree as to the rank of a taxon. Rather than allow the Hyacinthaceae to disappear altogether, Chase et al. suggested that it be treated as a subfamily within the Asparagaceae.[10] The ICN requires family names to end with "-aceae" and subfamily names to end with "-oideae".[11] Thus a possible name for the Hyacinthaceae when treated as a subfamily would be 'Hyacinthoideae'. However, the name Scilloideae had already been published in 1835 as the name for a subfamily containing the genus Scilla, so this name has priority and must be used.[10] Hence for those taxonomists who accept the APG system of 2009, Chionodoxa siehei can be placed in the subfamily Scilloideae of the family Asparagaceae. However, a taxonomist is perfectly free to continue to argue that Hyacinthaceae should be maintained as a separate family from the other families which were merged into the Asparagaceae.

In summary, if a plant has different names or is placed in differently named taxa:

  • If the confusion is purely nomenclatural, i.e. it concerns what to call a taxon which has the same circumscription, rank and position, the ICN provides rules to settle the differences, typically by prescribing that the earliest published name must be used, although names can be
    conserved
    .
  • If the confusion is taxonomic, i.e. taxonomists differ in opinion on the circumscription, rank or position of taxa, then only more scientific research can settle the differences, and even then only sometimes.

Accepted names

Various botanical databases such as

ambiguous to denote a name that is not accepted because its separate existence cannot be reliably determined. For instance, specimens that are damaged, immature or the necessary information or expertise ids not available. This can lead to abundances, multiple published names for the same entity.[12]

See also

General

Botany

References

  1. ^ Stearn 1992.
  2. ^ Stearn 2002.
  3. ^ Pavord 2005.
  4. ^ Barkworth, M. (2004), Botanical Nomenclature (Nomenclature, Names, and Taxonomy), University of Utah, archived from the original on 2011-07-20, retrieved 2011-02-20
  5. ^ McNeill et al. 2012, Principle IV[full citation needed]
  6. ^ a b Dashwood, Melanie & Mathew, Brian (2005), Hyacinthaceae – little blue bulbs (RHS Plant Trials and Awards, Bulletin Number 11), Royal Horticultural Society, archived from the original on 6 August 2011, retrieved 19 February 2011, p. 5
  7. ^ a b McNeill et al. 2012, Principle III
  8. JSTOR 2992015, archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2011-06-08, retrieved 2011-02-19
  9. ^
  10. ^ McNeill et al. 2012, Article 19.1
  11. ^ Cuffney et al 2007.

Bibliography