A LEGISLATED NOMENCLATURE FOR SPECIES OF PLANTS?

Abstract

A PERENNIAL QUESTION which has plagued plant taxonomists in recent years-whether or not to initiate the principle of nomina specifica conservanda-appears certain to be raised again at the forthcoming Seventh International Botanical Congress, to be held at Stockholm in July, 1950. The matter will most logically be brought up in connection with proposals to re-word Article 21 of the current (third) edition of the International Rules of Botanical Nomenclature, which now reads: However, to avoid disadvantageous changes in the nomenclatu;e of genera by the strict application of the Rules of Nomenclature, and especially of the principle of priority in starting from the dates given in Art. 20, the Rules provide a list of names which must be retained as exceptions. These names are by preference those which have come into general use in the fifty years following their publication, or which have been used in monographs and important floristic works up to the year 1890. This is the Article which establishes the principle of nomina generica conservanda. Implementation of this Article is provided for in Article 73, which grants to a small permanent International Executive the authority to consider nomina conservanda and to make recommendations thereon to the next International Botanical Congress. Crucial words in the present Article 21 are the words of genera, in the first sentence. Except for these words, the Article could be interpreted as providing for the conservation of names of families, species, subspecies, varieties, forms, etc. Actually, provision for the conservation of family names is made in the fourth paragraph of Article 23. It would seem more logical to have provisions for conservation of family and generic names brought together in Article 21; and the writer has proposed such a modification of this Article to the Executive Committee of the Section on Nomenclature of the Seventh International Botanical Congress. Consequently no such proposal is herewith made. The purpose of this discussion is merely to point out to potential delegates to the Seventh Congress the possible alterations of Article 21 which may come under consideration in 1950. Delegates to the Seventh Congress should be prepared to receive counter-proposals to the present Article 21, proposals which will inject into the International Rules the principle of nomina specifica conservanda. The simplest of such proposals would be merely to delete the words of genera from the first sentence. While the implications of such a deletion would doubtless be obvious to every delegate, it is conceivable that such a rewording might not receive the full attention of the Section on Nomenclature. It is suggested, therefore, that all attempts to alter the present wording of Article 21