From: Steve Marak <samarak at gizmoworks.com> on 2010.10.01 at 16:12:25(21519)
Aroiders,
This appeal for help is somewhat off-topic, so please excuse it (and
delete it, if you're not interested).
I'm looking for examples of a couple of things in the area of botanical
nomenclature, and I can think of no better group to ask than the people on
this list.
The first is the most complex example of a valid (and preferably,
currently accepted) name, of any plant (i.e., not restricted to aroids),
whether that complexity comes from ranks below species or multiple
authorities or both. One of the best ones I have now is:
Paphiopedilum barbigerum Tang & Wang var. coccineum (Perner & Herrm.)
Cavestro
which conveniently (for me) even has a synonym, but I'm looking for
something even more complex, if it exists. Knowing the publication would
be nice, too, but is not essential for what I'm after. (Examples of
similar complexity to the above but using other ranks - subsp., f., etc. -
would also be appreciated.)
The second question is what plant, again regardless of family, has the
most synonyms? I'm aware of one poor orchid with, if I counted correctly,
55, but I suspect there are plants even more confused about their
identities out there. For my purposes I'm concerned only with whether the
name now appears as a synonym of the currently accepted name and not so
much how it got there (i.e., whether it was validly published and later
reduced to synonomy, nom. illeg., etc). I realize that whatever
the answer is, it can change, but again that's not a concern for me at the
moment.
All help or pointers to good places to find the answer myself will be
appreciated. I've spent plenty of time on Tropicos, IPNI, etc., but my
oddball questions are not easily answered with those tools - or perhaps I
just don't know how to ask them.
Steve
| +More |
IAS on Facebook
IAS on Instagram
