Iain, I enjoyed that tidbit about the taxonomic nightmares of some plant groups. I use IPNI very often, but it's major flaw is that it list all synonyms and does not indicate which is the most currently accepted one. I hope your search goes well. Nhu On Wed, Jun 4, 2008 at 2:33 PM, Iain Brodie of Falsyde < auchgourishbotgard@falsyde.sol.co.uk> wrote: > Picking up on Mary Sue's struggle and concerns about the changes, it seems > ever ending, on the taxonomy front while I fully agree and appreciate the > difficulties we really all would be in massive difficulties without the > basics and adhering to the International Rules of Nomenclature, which > rules are regularly reviewed and revised. > > For those who need to do a regular check up or research on names doing as > Mary Sue does by going to IPNI via Google, or whoever, is by far > the best way to discover the correct taxonomic status as currently accepted. > HOWEVER be aware that even there the records are not necessarily up to > date as is apparent e.g. in relation to Lilium and by grounds of probability > other genera too. The IPNI system is a joint venture between the > Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in London and Grays in / at [I think] > Arnold in the USA. It is the generally accepted international resource on > nomenclature and used without reservation by China Japan etc however > not entirely as I am finding with the same equanimity by Russia. > > Mary Sue raised issues about confusion over naming and name usage which I > am increasingly learning to appreciate e.g. in relation to my research for > my monograph on Lilium etc. To illustrate, in round numbers approximately > for the present there are some 140 botanical species and subspecies > of Lilium, plus so far an uncalculated number of botanical varieties, never > mind cultivars of which the Int. Lily Registrar lists around 10,000. > Ignoring the Cultivars / Hybrids and the varieties for the 140 taxa > number, I have therefore so far discovered in researches to date some 550 > Synonyms . That might seem bad enough but most species lilies do not have > any synonyms, or perhaps just one or two, but clearly several have legions > of synonyms and it is proving a nightmare working through it all > because the correct name for any species of plant, or organism, is required > to be known by the first recorded validly published name, by date. As a > consequence some fa > miliar names are set to bite the dust and now is that ever going to > make me popular! > > Apologies for the length of this contribution but it seems the generality > of contributors on this forum are of the more serious plantaholic type with > a higher level of scientific appreciation than can be found on several other > sites I no longer visit. > > Happy summer gardening and keep the bugs off the flowers. Iain > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/xerantheum/