2104 NAMES NOMENCLATURE 



NAMES NOMENCLATURE 



ing botanical institutions and to those botanists who 

 had offered propositions. During the Congress the 

 different propositions were discussed and voted upon 

 by a representative gathering of botanists of the whole 

 world in special nomenclatorial sessions which extended 

 through a whole week. The new code, which was the 

 result of this Congress, is known as the International 

 Rules, sometimes called Vienna Code. 



The fundamental principle of this code is the accept- 

 ance of the law of priority with 1753 as the starting- 

 point for the nomenclature of the vascular plants. 

 However, to avoid disadvantageous changes in the 

 names of well-known genera, a list of about 400 generic 

 names, "nomina conservanda," was provided which 



2436. The sheet of Link's Rubus argutus in the herbarium 

 at Berlin. 



must be retained in all cases. The oldest specific name, 

 under whatever genus it had been published, is to be 

 preserved in transferring a species from one genus into 

 another except when the same combination already 

 exists in the new genus, e. g., Azalea pontica, if trans- 

 ferred to Rhododendron cannot become R. ponticum, 

 as this combination already exists for another species in 

 the genus. Also a specific name must be changed if it 

 repeats simply the generic name in the new genus, e. g.. 

 the specific name of Bignonia Catalpa when transferred 

 to Catalpa must be changed, as Catalpa Catalpa is not 

 admissible. Varietal and specific names cannot com- 

 pete with each other; that is, for a variety the oldest 

 varietal name given under any other species or genus 

 holds, even if there should be an older specific name for 

 the same plant, and vice versa. Under the Paris Code, 

 however, the oldest name must be retained in any case 

 whether published as a specific or as a varietal name. 

 When two or more groups with names of the same date 

 are united, the author chooses. A name or combina- 

 tion of names which is universally regarded as a syn- 

 onym may be used again for another plant, although it 



ought to be avoided. The whole code contains fifty- 

 eight articles and thirty-seven recommendations. It 

 gives detailed rules for the formation of names, cita- 

 tion of authors, validity of genera, species and varie- 

 ties, transfer of species and varieties, changes of names, 

 rejection of names, and other practices. A conveniently 

 accessible reprint of the English version of the code 

 will be found in Rhodora 9:33-55 (1907). There are 

 also German, French and English versions in "Verhand- 

 lungen des Internationalen Botanischen Kongresses in 

 Wien 1905," published in 1906 by Gustav Fischer in Jena. 

 A number of American botanists had submitted to 

 the Congress an entirely new code and proposed that 

 it should be accepted instead of amending the Paris 

 Code. This, however, could not be done, as it was 

 understood from the beginning that the new code 

 should be based on the Paris Code. After the Congress, 

 the authors and supporters of this new code came 

 together and voted not to accept the decision of the 

 International Congress, but to retain their code, which 

 is known as the Philadelphia Code or American Code. 

 Only in one point was a change introduced and the 

 decision of the Vienna Congress followed, namely, that 

 specific and varietal names cannot compete with each 

 other. In the Philadelphia Code, much stress is laid on 

 the method of types, to which little attention is paid in 

 the International Rules. Besides this the following 

 points are the most important in which the two codes 

 differ. The Philadelphia Code recognizes no excep- 

 tions in the priority of generic names; it has no list of 

 "nomina conservanda." In the case of union of group- 

 names published at the same time in the same book, 

 those having precedence of position in the publication 

 or on the page are regarded as having priority. A name 

 or combination of names can never be used a second 

 time for a different group, while according to the 

 International Rules it can be used again if the older is 

 not valid. In transferring a specific name to another 

 genus, repetition is allowed, which makes names like 

 Glaurium Glaudum and Symphoricarpos Symphoricarpos 

 admissible. The use of the genitive and the adjective 

 form of the same personal name for different species in 

 the same genus is not admissible, while according to 

 the International Rules they cannot be rejected, e. g., 

 Lysimachia Hemsleyi and L. Hemsleyana are admis- 

 sible according to the International Rules, but not 

 according to the Philadelphia Code. The whole Phila- 

 delphia Code contains nineteen canons, besides rules on 

 orthography, citation, and other matters. It is 

 published in the Bull. Torr. Bot. Club. 34:167-178 

 (1907). 



In 1910, the International Botanical Congress held 

 at Brussels added several amendments to the Inter- 

 national Rules and fixed the starting points for the 

 nomenclature of the lower cryptogamous plants. In 

 conjunction with this congress, an International Horti- 

 cultural Congress was held, of which a subsection on 

 nomenclature was charged to consider nomenclatorial 

 questions in regard to horticulture. It was resolved 

 that the International Rules should be accepted with 

 a few exceptions and modifications concerning the 

 nomenclature of horticultural varieties and hybrids. 

 The employment of Latin names for horticultural 

 forms is restricted to descriptive terms like compactus, 

 nanus, fastigiatus; other names ought to be given in a 

 vulgar tongue and must not be translated when trans- 

 ferred to other languages; the names should be expressed 

 so far as possible in one word, the employment of three 

 words to be the maximum. Bigeneric hybrids ought to 

 receive a generic name formed by the combination of 

 the generic names of the parents into a single word, 

 while according to the International Rules they must be 



E laced under one of the parent genera. Trigeneric 

 ybrids are preferably designated by affixing the end- 

 ing ara to a personal name. (See Adamara, Linneara, 

 Lowiara.) The Horticultural Code consists of sixteen 



