Colchicum questions
Jim McKenney (Tue, 31 May 2005 09:00:13 PDT)

Jane used a locution in her reply on Colchicum which raises a question for
me.
She wrote: " my sources all list C. sibthorpii
as an invalid synonym of C. bivonae"

The question concerns this phrase "invalid synonym". Shouldn't we simply say
"synonym"? Isn't Colcchicum sibthorpii a validly published name? It may not
be the current "correct" name, but it is a validly published name. And
plants can have any number of validly published names, can't they? And
plants can have invalid names, too - that's where "invalid synonym" might
come in handy.

Or is Jane telling us that the name Colchicum sibthorpii has somehow been
invalidated?

Jim McKenney
jimmckenney@starpower.net
Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where Antonio de
Bivona-Bernardi's colchicum is esteemed under any name.