PLANT NOMENCLATURE : MORE SUGGESTIONS 293 



keeps its name when placed in the genus Carduus : Carduus sect. 

 Alfredia Benth. & Hook, f.' 



' " I am therefore inclined to maintain in every case the oldest 

 name regardless of change of grade of so-called rank. The name of 

 the author, however, should be changed with a change in the grade, 

 if the nature of the grade is clearly defined in both instances ; if the 

 original author failed to designate the grade the fixation of the grade 

 is an emendation, and the name of the original author should be kept." 

 If a combination is used as a so-called trinomial, the author of the 

 original combination should be quoted regardless of any later change 

 of grade. 



"To designate a certain subdivision of a species, it is only necessary 

 to add the name of this division to the binomial, omitting the names 

 of any higher grades which may have been placed between this par- 

 ticular subdivision and the speciHc name. A combination of three 

 names should always be sufficient to designate any group below the 

 species. This, of course, does not apply to exact taxonomic work, 

 where names and combinations should be cited exactly as published by 

 their author." 



To the last paragraph I should like to add that the practice of 

 placing names of varieties or forms after the specific name without 

 the name of any higher subdivision or subdivisions intercalated 

 between the name of the species and that of the variety or form is 

 implied by Art. 29, which rules that varieties under different sub- 

 species or forms under different varieties of the same species cannot 

 have the same name ; this rule would be purposeless if the varietal 

 name had to be used always in combination with that of its sub- 

 species or the name of the form with that of its variety. This is also 

 the opinion of Dr. Bricmet, the editor of the International Rules, as 

 stated by him in a letter to me of April 22, 1912. It should there- 

 fore *"be admissible to use, e. g., the combination Crataegus aestivalis 

 luculenta Sarg. or C. aestivalis f. luculenta instead of the published 

 combination C. aestivalis var. cerasoides f. luculenta, and Primus 

 glandulosa rosea Koehne instead of Primus glandulosa var, glabra 

 f. Sieboldiana subf. rosea. The purpose of a name or combina- 

 tion of names is solely to enable us to designate clearly, and I may 

 add as briefly as possible, any plant under consideration, and not 

 give us its position in an elaborate systematic arrangement of the 

 different variations of a polymorphous species. If we are forced 

 to repeat the names of the subdivisions which may have been inter- 

 calated between the specific name and the form we are dealing with, 

 the number of which is not limited by the Itules of nomenclature, 

 we may as well go back to the long-winded phrases of pre-Linnsean 

 nomenclature. 



"We might liken these cases to the publication of a new species in 

 a large genus subdivided into subgenera ; in the original publication 

 of a species the name of the subgenus is often intercalated in paren- 

 thesis between the name of the genus and that of the species, but in 

 the usage of the binomal the name of the subgenus is omitted, as the 

 binomial is perfectly sufficient for the exact designation of the species. 



The designation of all the forms of a polymorphous species by 



