Re: [Aroid-l] Off-topic: examples of botanical nomenclature

From: Hannon <othonna at gmail.com> on 2010.10.01 at 22:42:31(21524) Steve, At the family level probably none exceeds the Cactaceae for ratio of synonyms to accepted names-- both at the genus and species levels. There are also plenty of trinomials and doubtless some quadrinomials. The new cactus lexicon and Edward F. Anderson's "The Cactus Family" are good places to browse. Dylan +More On 01/10/2010, Steve Marak wrote: > 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 > > > -- Steve Marak > -- samarak@gizmoworks.com > _______________________________________________ > Aroid-L mailing list > Aroid-L@www.gizmoworks.com > http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l > -- Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire,--- conscience. - George Washington, from his copy-book when a schoolboy _______________________________________________ Aroid-L mailing list Aroid-L@www.gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

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