NOMENCLATURE OF THE SAPOTE AND THE SAPODILLA. 
By O. F. Coox. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The botanical investigation of tropical trees, notwithstanding their 
economic importance, has been greatly neglected. This is shown 
by the lack of any general agreement among botanists regarding the 
names of some of the most familiar species. In the case of the sapote 
the nomenclatorial complications are so numerous and intricate as to 
become almost interesting, and they may be useful as examples of 
some of the taxonomic problems that still remain to be solved. 
Though the method of types is now widely recognized, especially 
in the United States, as necessary to secure stability in the applica- 
tion of names, many of the consequences of its adoption have yet to 
be worked out. Indeed, it is evident from the codes of nomenclature 
proposed in recent years that our European contemporaries have 
continued to overlook the necessity of dealing with genera on the 
basis of types. 
The Vienna code of 1905 has a curious provision regarding the 
subdivision of a genus, namely, that when ‘‘one of the parts de- 
tached contains a great many more species than the others, the name 
_ is reserved for that part of it.” The framing of such a rule makes it 
evident that the idea of a generic name being permanently associated 
with a type species had not yet dawned. The regulations adopted 
by the Brussels congress of 1910, in seeking to establish lists of 
nomina conservanda and to set many different dates for beginning 
the nomenclature of the various groups of plants, would also intro- 
duce endless complications into the work of placing taxonomy on a 
basis of types. Restricting dates of publication does not simplify 
the problems of generic nomenclature unless there is also to be a con- 
sistent method of fixing the application of the accepted names. 
1 The Method of Types in Botanical Nomenclature. Science n. ser. 12: 475. 1900. 
Typesand Synonyms. Science n. ser. 15: 382.1902. Types of Pre-Linnszean Genera. 
Science n. ser. 1'7: 350. 1903. The Nomenclature of the Royal Palms. Bull. Torrey 
Club 31: 349.1904. An American Code of Botanical Nomenclature. Bull. Torrey 
Club 34: 167. 1907. 
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