>
> The specific epithet has to agree with the gender of the
> genus, so has nothing to do with the gender of anyone it
> commemorates.
>
Dear Mr. Tim
I think the epithet is related with the gender of the person it commemorates.
I could give an example. The genus Nepenthes that has currently more than 120 species. Many of them were named after a few people, for instance:
Nepenthes attenboroughii after sir David Attenborough
Nepenthes benstonei that honours the botanist Benjamin C. Stone
Nepenthes copelandii after E. B. Copeland, curator of the Manila Herbarium
Nepenthes danseri honouring the famous botanist B. H. Danser
Nepenthes kerrii refers to the Irish medical doctor Arthur Francis George Kerr, who made the first known herbarium collection of this species.
Nepenthes klossii honours Cecil Boden Kloss, who first collected it
Nepenthes lowii was named after Hugh Low, who discovered it
Nepenthes macfarlanei after John Muirhead Macfarlane, botanist
Nepenthes pervillei honours Auguste Pervillé, French plant collector
Nepenthes veitchii after James Veitch, a famous nurseryman
all these people were male. Now on the other side the following were named after females:
Nepenthes burbidgeae was collected by Frederick William Burbidge, but was named after his wife by Joseph Dalton Hooker
Nepenthes izumiae honours Izumi Davis, wife of Troy Davis, one of the describing authors of this taxon
Nepenthes jacquelinae named after Charles Clarke's wife, Jacqueline Clarke
Nepenthes rowanae was named after the naturalist Ellis Rowan
After this i automatically associated the "ae" terminology with female and "ii" or "i" with male. But still a few more species are named after more people and they end quite differently, like:
Nepenthes edwardsiana
Nepenthes rafflesiana
Nepenthes reinwardtiana
NEpenthes northiana
Nepenthes merriliana
Nepenthes khasiana
Nepenthes hurreliana
NEpenthes deaniana and so on... So i am still a bit confused... Taxonomy is really complicated, but one thing is for sure, even if you publish a mispelled name, that name will stay like that forever!