Crocus

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:07:37 PDT
Mary Sue asked,

A question for you Crocus experts. Can anyone tell us which is the
>correct name, Crocus baytopiorum or Crocus baylopiorum? All my books
>have the first spelling, as does IPNI and the Global Names Index.
>However, Kew and Mobot are using the second spelling. Thanks.

As far as I know, it is BAYTOPIORUM, named after two Turkish 
botanists, husband and wife, Turhan and Asuman Baytop; it means "of 
the Baytops." The spelling with L must be a typo, or the result of 
somebody's bad handwriting. There are other plants named in honor of 
the Baytops, such as Colchicum baytopiorum. The provenance of the 
name is mentioned in Brian Mathew's book "The Crocus," and since he 
was acquainted with the Baytops, he must know. I also find the 
spelling Baytop in citations of Turhan Baytop's publications.

It sometimes happens that a typographical error in the original 
publication of a species is claimed to be the "correct" name, but 
when the epithet is based on a person's name, I think the botanical 
nomenclature code permits correction.

Jane McGary (not a Crocus expert but I do know how to spell)


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