Spelling. Was: [pbs] Scoliopus
Jim McKenney (Sat, 31 Jan 2004 09:22:22 PST)

Of course they are the same name, and I understnad the transliteration issue.

But botanical names do not have to be "correct", they only have to respect
the rules of botanical nomenclature.

Here is another layer to the problem: Latin, classical Latin, has no letter
"w". Botanists who are rigid Latinists would eschew the "w" - and since the
Latin "v" is traditionally given the sound of "w", that only adds to the
temptaion to avoid the "w" because the "v" would represent the "w" sound.

But I think botanists sometimes go back and change the original spellings
to make them conform to the spelling used by the eponym. A case in point:
all my life I've written Crocus tommasinianus. But the name is now
"officially" changed to respect Signor Tomasini's spelling, i.e. with one
"m".

Because such activity (i.e. spelling changes) is generally well below my
radar screen, I brought the issue up hoping a practising botanist familiar
with the Scoliopus and Tulipa questions might respond with the details.

Any takers?

Jim McKenney
jimmckenney@starower.net
vho is wery veary of vord wariations

At 11:00 AM 1/31/2004 -0500, you wrote: