PLANT NOMENCLATURE : SOME SUGGESTIONS 155 



a transference of nine votes would have led to its rejection : 105 

 voted in its favour and 88 against (Act. Congr. But. Vienne, 131 ; 

 1906). 



Names which should be rejected. 



2. Specific names which are apt to excite ridicule should he 

 injected. Among such are : — 



A. Those in which the trivial merely repeats the generic name, 

 e. g. Chloroxylon chloroxylon, Balsamita balsamita, Uva-ursi uva- 

 ursi. 



B. Those in which the trivial is a mere variant of the generic 

 name, e. g. Silaits silaus, Sesbania sesban, Bambusa bambos. 



C. Those in which the trivial indicates that the species resemble 

 the genus to which it is now assigned, e. g. Cerastium cerastioides, 

 Bauhinia bauhinioides, Fayrcea fayrcsacea, Luzula luzulina, Bri- 

 delia brideliifolia, Licania licaniceJJora. 



The names under 2 A are treated as " nomina rejicienda " in 

 Art. 55. A liberal interpretation of this article would also exclude 

 those under 2 B. As the Editor of this Journal (Journ. Bot. 1920, 

 276) has remarked, " Sesbania sesban comes dangerously near the 

 duplication which has been generally condemned." 



The consideration underlying Art. 55, 2°, was the desire to avoid 

 names which are ridiculous in the eyes of the general public (Act. 

 Congr. Bot. Vienne, 126 ; 1906). This applies with even greater 

 force to those under 2 C. A " Bauhinia-Mke Bauhinia,'''' and 

 a " Bridelia with the leaves of a Bridelia " verge perilously on 

 nonsense. 



3. Seriously misleading geographical specific names should be re- 

 jected. This is in accordance with Art. 4 of the International Rules 

 which enjoins the rejection of names which may cause error. 



Examples : — Hypericum mexicanum L. does not occur in Mexico, 

 but it is a native of Colombia, and the name BZ. mutisianum H. B. K. 

 should be adopted for it (Triana et Planch. Prodr. 298). Scilla 

 peruviana is a native of the Mediterranean Region, and the name 

 should be replaced by S. hemispheerica Boiss. 



Such names should, however, be rejected only in extreme cases : 

 thus the numerous Chinese species which bear the trivial japonicus 

 (E. H. Wilson, Nat. W. China, ii. 10; 1913) may be retained 

 because they are cultivated in, and were originally introduced to, 

 Europe from Japan. Similarly Cephaelis peruviana, which is a 

 native of Guayaquil in Ecuador, may be allowed to stand on the 

 ground that Guayaquil was included in Peru at the time of Ruiz and 

 Pavon, who collected the species. 



4. Specific names which differ from previously published ones 

 only in the adjective or genitive termination should be rejected. 

 These were allowed under the International Rules, but it was recom- 

 mended that they should be avoided in the future (Rec. IX.). It is 

 more consistent to reject them as being names which may cause 

 error or ambiguity (Art. 4). They are rejected under Canon 16 (c) 

 of the American Code. 



Examples : — Lysimachia hemsleyi Franch. should be rejected on 



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