Hi, Jennifer The two responses we've have so far go along way to answering your questions; I'll just add a bit more here because the recommendations in the earlier responses are those formulated for use in technical or more formal publications. I edit the local rock garden chapter’s bulletin, and I wrestle with questions of this sort all the time. Our membership includes several professional taxonomists who are concerned that anything they publish in our bulletin should appear seemly in the event that one of their professional colleagues should see it. At the other end of the spectrum, our membership includes many gardeners who probably throw away plant labels as soon as they get home from the source, and who don’t know the names of most of what they grow. I’m known to be a bit of a martinet when it comes to proper labels. And I’m perceived as speaking only “gardener’s Latin”. At a recent meeting I used a vernacular name, and several heads turned at once; and one of them actually said “I’ve never heard you use a vernacular name before!”. Keep in mind that this is not a matter of right and wrong - it's a matter of style. Just as there is no universally accepted authority for the grammar of American English, so there is no universally accepted authority for these matters. And just as the majority of people spend more time and money to be stylish in their dress, hair and politics (and how ‘bout them Tina Fey glasses!) than they do to acquire refined grammatical sensibilities, the majority of editors don't want to seem to be a Doofus (take that, spell check!) and bend to prevailing practice in these matters. Languages change, and our language is changing a lot right now. Here's the way I would treat the part of your inquiry which is not directly addressed in the responses so far. You wrote "He refers to Bearded Iris and Oncocyclus Iris. Are these considered scientific names or common names? I did not italicize hybrid tulips, hyacinths, and crocus - should I have? Meanwhile, I did italicize Lilium, Muscari, and Tigridia. Right or wrong?" I would not capitalize or italicize either word in "Bearded Iris" or "Oncocyclus Iris". To my mind they are pseudoscientific common names. However, if those terms were in reference to another publication cited in the paper at hand where they were capitalized, then follow the format used in the other publication. The words "tulips" and "hyacinths" are not Latin: they are the plural forms of words now commonly accepted as English. The word crocus poses a different challenge: there is a perfectly good English word "crocus" which looks just like the genus name of the plant in question, Crocus (italicized). Current practice in many circles is to regard all genus names as potential English names, with the difference that in their English avatar they do not have a capitalized initial letter. But watch out here: I would say that our job as editors is to understand what the writer means and to convey that meaning. Does the writer mean "the genus Crocus" or does the writer mean "crocus" in the vernacular sense? Any editorial changes to the writer's usage should reflect the writer's intentions, not blind adherence to some preconceived "rule". If you're doing the writing yourself and are uncomfortable with the inclusion of what seems to be the same word used to convey two separate meanings, you can emphasize the difference by using the plural of the English form: crocuses won't be confused with Crocus (italicized and with a capital initial letter). If you agree with that and understand it, then that should answer your question about "Lilium, Muscari, and Tigridia". In other words, depending on what meaning is to be conveyed, those words can be printed in lower case letters without italics (and made plural just to avoid any ambiguity) or can be printed in italics with a capitalized initial letter (when they are shorthand for the full expression "the genus Xus"). Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7 My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/