I forwarded Jim McKenney's question to Aaron Davis at Kew, one of the author's of the paper on Acis, Leucojum and Galanthus and of course great Galanthus authority. He writes: >Your friend may well be right: Acis could be masculine. Very interesting. Taxonomists tend to follow gender allocations as adopted by previous workers. Acis has been universally accepted as feminine, and that's why we used feminine endings for our new combinations. To change the gender of Acis would require a formal proposal, which would be voted on at the next ICBN meeting. The chances of this being accepted are negligible, as (contrary to popular belief) taxonomists like to retain current usage. Also, the link with 'poetic' is not absolutely convincing. If a proposal to change the gender to masculine were successful the endings of many Acis names would have to change, of course. Dr John M. Grimshaw Garden Manager, Colesbourne Gardens Sycamore Cottage Colesbourne Nr Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 9NP Website: http://www.colesbournegardens.org.uk/