INTRODUCTION 



43 



NOMENCLATURE 



In nomenclature the rules of the Vienna Botanical Congress * 

 have been closely followed, including the list of nomina conser- 

 vanda as well as the supplementary list adopted by the Brussels 

 Botanical Congress. f The sole exception in the list of nomina 

 conservanda is the adoption of the generic name Taetsia in place 

 of Cordyline for what are considered to be entirely valid reasons. 



Up to the close of the last century comparatively little attention 

 was given to the question of priority in the names of plants, 

 and many authors accepted or changed generic and specific 

 names at will. It is true that in a majority of cases names 

 well established were generally accepted, but changes were often 

 made for the most trivial reasons. In work prosecuted under 

 these lax but easy methods of selecting names for plants, the 

 exact identity of obscure species was a matter of relatively 

 slight importance. 



With the establishment and general acceptance of the prin- 

 ciple of priority in selecting the names of species, it has become 

 important, from the viewpoint of stability of nomenclature, to 

 determine so far as possible the exact status of the species 

 proposed by the older authors. It would admittedly be con- 

 venient if many of the names proposed by early authors could 

 be discarded, but if we ignore the species of one author, any 

 botanist at any time would be justified in likewise ignoring 

 species proposed by any other author, which would result in 

 a veritable chaotic condition in nomenclature. We can no 

 longer look on the work of this or that author, no matter how 

 incomplete or imperfect, as unworthy of consideration, nor can 

 we accept Hooker's J dictum, regarding species proposed by 

 such authors as Blanco, that it was undesirable to devote time 

 to their identification. 



Regarding species based on such pre-Linnean works as 

 Rheede's Hortus Malabaricus and Rumphius's Herbarium Am- 

 boinense, Hooker f. commends the work of Blume for the good 

 service he has performed to the antiquarian branch of botany 

 in interpreting Rumphian species. The general adoption of the 

 principle of priority has emphasized the great importance of 

 what Hooker f. characterized as the antiquarian branch of 



* Briquet, J. Regies internationales de la Nomenclature botanique 

 adoptees par le Congres International de Botanique de Vienne 1905 (1906) 

 1-99. 



t Actes du III nie Congres International de Botanique, Bruxelles, 1910 1 

 (1910) 112-116. 



$ Hooker f. & Thomson. Flora Indica 1 (1855) Introductory Essay 56. 



