NOMENCLATURE 255 
Keleria cristata (L.) Pers., indicates that Persoon was 
the author of the accepted combination and that Linnzus 
was the author of the name cristata under some other 
genus, in this case under Aira. Persoon transferred the 
species to Keeleria. If a variety has been raised to a 
species, or the reverse, the parentheses are used to indi- 
cate the original author. If the parentheses are not used, 
as is the case in most of the older works, the name retained 
is the author of the combination. Among zodélogists the 
custom often prevails of retaining only the original author 
in parantheses, omitting the author of the combination. 
The use of the parentheses is often referred to as double 
citation. 
CAPITALIZATION 
279. As previously stated, the generic name always 
begins with a capital letter. The specific or varietal name 
begins with a small letter unless the word is a proper 
name. Many botanists decapitalize all specific names 
regardless of derivation. The latter system conduces to 
uniformity but violates the rules of the Latin language, 
which is the language of botanical nomenclature. Con- 
forming to the first system, specific names are capitalized 
if they are proper nouns. Such nouns may be derived 
from a personal name, or they may be proper names such 
as are mentioned under nouns in apposition. Some authors 
capitalize geographic adjectives, as Virginiensis and Caro- 
linianus, but this is not required by Latin usage. 
- Decapitalization of proper names may lead to ambiguity. The 
specific name Leonis would indicate that the species was named for 
a man by the name of Leon, but if the name is decapitalized, leonis, 
it may mean merely, of the lion. More serious is the decapitalization 
of a name like Millefolium (Achillea Millefolium). This is an old 
