Plant Family Holiday Recipe
Brassicaceae, Solanaceae, Capparidaceae, Rutaceae, Oleaceae, Apiaceae, Piperaceae
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1 head cauliflower
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon drained
capers
4 teaspoons fresh lemon
juice
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black
pepper
Recipe Card 1 of 2
Plant Family Holiday Recipe
Brassicaceae, Solanaceae, Capparidaceae, Rutaceae, Oleaceae, Apiaceae, Piperaceae
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Directions
1. In 5- to 6-quart saucepot, place 1
inch water and steamer basket; heat
to boiling on high. Remove leaves
and center of core from
Brassicaceae.
2. Place Brassicaceae, core side
down, in steamer basket. Cover
saucepot with tight-fitting lid. Cook
on medium 10 minutes or until
Brassicaceae is fork-tender.
3. Meanwhile, in food processor with
knife blade attached, pulse
Solanaceae, Capparidaceae,
Rutaceae juice, Oleaceae oil,
chopped Apiaceae, 1/4 teaspoon
salt, and 1/8 teaspoon ground
Piperaceae until coarsely chopped,
about 15 seconds. Spoon SCROAP
relish over Brassicaceae to serve.
Recipe Card 2 of 2
Things to Remember
About Botanical
Nomenclature
Common Names for Plants
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Common names are created by people doing the
everyday living of life. They are words in the
language of the layman and thus are easy to
understand and use.
Common names develop in the language or culture
of a given people and may not be useful to people
with a different language or culture.
 The multiplicity of common names can cause
confusion, and common names are not precise
enough to be used in serious scientific studies.
Scientific Names for Plants
Scientific names evolved out of the study and
reporting or plants in books starting during the
period from the 13th to 18th centuries.
Because the language of educated people was
Latin, names of plants were written in Latin.
Sometimes the descriptive names became very
long and became known as polynomials since
they both named and described the plant.
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Polynomial Nomenclature Example

Ranunculus calycibus retroflexis,
pedunculis falcatis, caule erecto, foliis
compositis
 Aka “the buttercup with bent-back sepals,
curved flower-stalks, erect stems and
compound leaves”.

Cumbersome??? You bet!
So…
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In 1753, Carolus Linnaeus, (aka Carl Linne
), a
Swedish naturalist, published a very influential work
called Species Plantarum (Species of Plants) in
which he began using binonmial nomenclature
instead.
 Binomials are two-word names written in Latin.
(Genus and species)
Linnaeus was the first to use binomial nomenclature
consistently, and he is credited as being the father of
modern scientific nomenclature, both botanical and
zoological.
Thus…
Today the use of binomial nomenclature is
universally accepted and changed little since
the time it was first applied and perfected by
Linnaeus.
 Remember then, a species name is a twoword name that consists of a generic name
and a specific epithet. The specific epithet
by itself is not a species name.

And to continue…
In binomial nomenclature, both the generic name
and the specific epithet (genus and species) are
italicized or underlined. The first letter of the generic
name (genus) is capitalized, and it is recommended
by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature
that the specific epithet always be written in lower
case.
 Thus, the new pine species (let’s pretend here)
named for President-elect Obama and published
would be Pinus obamaii.
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Why, oh why, obamaii???
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The suffix, -ii, which is the possessive case
for the Latinized version of a man’s name [or,
-iae for a woman’s name], is the equivalent of
–’s in English.
Thus, Pinus obamaii could be commonly
called Obama’s pine since we know who HE
is.
In the future then, perhaps, Pinus clintoniae
or Pinus paliniae???
And, what about AUTHORITIES???
The individual or individuals who are
responsible for giving plants their names are
known as authorities.
 The names of these individuals are often
abbreviated if too long.
 Examples:
 Lewisia rediviva Pursh
 Datura stranmonium L.

Lotus heermannii (Dur. & Hilg.) Greene
What does this mean?
 The species was originally named by two naturalists
by the names of E. M. Durand and T. C. Hilgard as
Hosackia heermannii.
 Several years later, E. L. Green, another botanist,
concluded that the genus Hosackia should be
merged with the genus Lotus.
 Green transferred the specific epithet heermannii
from Hosackia to Lotus.
 And, it appears that the genus Hosackia ceased to
exist.

Lotus heermannii (Dur. & Hilg.) Greene
So…
 Durand and Hilgard (the parenthetical
authorities) get credit for having published
the epithet, heermannii.
 Greene, (the combining authority) gets
credit for transferring the epithet to Lotus and
publishing the combination Lotus heermannii.

And, remember:

Where the species name is always italicized
or underlined, the authorities are not.
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Example:
Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws. & Laws.
 (This means also that botanists Laws. &
Laws. published the name proposed by
Dougl.)
Botanical Latin
Botanical Latin is an internationally used
technical language developed over the past
250 years for the naming and descriptions of
plants. It is accepted by botanists and
horticulturists worldwide as the medium for
naming new plants.
 We used Botanical Latin 4th Edition by
William T. Stearn as a standard of reference
for our laboratory exercise on Botanical Latin.
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More on Botanical Latin…
Sic enim potiusloquamur:melius est
reprehendant nos grammatici quam non
intelligant populi.
“Let us rather then declare: it is better that the
grammarians censure us than that the public does
not understand us.”
St. Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354-430)
Botanical Nomenclature
The principles and rules of botanical nomenclature
have been developed and adapted by a series of
international botanical congresses (IBC) and are
listed in the International Code of Botanical
Nomenclature (sometimes still referred to as the
International Rules of Botanical Nomenclature) or,
the ICBN.
 The ICBN is a book with a new edition after each
IBC and it contains the most current rules and other
guidelines for botanical nomenclature.
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IBC
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International Botanical Congress (IBC) is a largescale meeting of botanists in all scientific fields, from
all over the world. Authorized by the International
Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies
(IABMS), congresses are held every six years with
the venue circulating around the world. The latest
was the XVII IBC in Vienna, Austria, in 2005, a
hundred years after the second congress, II IBC,
was held in that same city. The next IBC will be held
in Melbourne, Australia, 24-30 July 2011.
International Botanical Congresses
IBC
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I 1900 Paris
II 1905 Vienna
III 1910 Brussels
IV 1926 Ithaca, NY
V 1930 Cambridge, UK
VI 1935 Amsterdam
VII 1950 Stockholm
VIII 1954 Paris
IX 1959 Montreal
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X 1964 Edinburgh, UK
XI 1969 Seattle, WA
XII 1975 Leningrad, USSR
XIII 1981 Sydney
XIV 1987 Berlin
XV 1993 Tokyo
XVI 1999 St. Louis, MO
XVII 2005 Vienna
XVIII 2011 Melbourne
IBC
International Botanical Congress
The IBC has the power to alter the ICBN
(International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.)
Formally the power resides with the Plenary
Session, but in practice this just approves the
decisions of the Nomenclature Section. The
Nomenclature Section meets before the actual
Congress and deals with all proposals to modify the
ICBN: this includes ratifying recommendations on
conservation. To reduce the risk of a hasty decision
the Nomenclature Section adopts a 60% majority as
needed for any change.
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ICBN
International Code of Botanical Nomenclature
The major goal of the ICBN is to provide one
correct name for each taxonomic group (or taxon)
within a stable system of names (a classification).
 The most current edition, published in 2006, of the
ICBN would be from the IBC XVII session held in
Vienna, Austria, in 2005.
 The next revision of the ICBN will be printed after
the IBC XVIII session scheduled to be held in
Melbourne, Australia in July of 2011.

IBC and ICBN
Neither the IBC nor the ICBN have any
executive or judicial power. The rules must
be accepted or rejected on their own merits.
There is no way, outside of peer pressure, to
force a recalcitrant taxonomist into line.
 For the rest of us, we must use the current
edition of the ICBN as the final word on
problems arising from the use of scientific
names.
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ICBN
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The ICBN applies not only to plants, as they
are now defined, but also to other organisms
traditionally studied by botanists. This
includes blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria);
fungi, including chytrids, oomycetes, and
slime molds; photosynthetic protists and
taxonomically related non-photosynthetic
groups. There are special provisions in the
ICBN for some of these groups, as there are
for fossils.
ICBN
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For the naming of cultivated plants there is a
separate code, the International Code of
Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants. This
gives supplementary rules and
recommendations.
Ole goes out one day to use the outhouse, and he finds Sven there.
Sven has his wallet out, and he's throwing money down into the
hole of the outhouse. Ole asks, “Uff da! Sven, watcha doin' dere,
fella? You're throwing da five dollar bill and da ten dollar bill down
into the hole of da outhouse! Vatcha doin' dat for?"
Sven answers, “Vell, Ole, ven I pulled up my trousers, I dropped a
nickel down dere—and I'm not going down into dat mess for yust a
nickel!"
Ole is on his deathbed. The doctor has told him he has only a few
hours to live. He catches the scent of his favorite bars wafting
through the air. With all the strength he can muster, he drags
himself into the kitchen and sees a fresh pan cooling on the rack.
He cuts one out and bites into the scrumptious cookie. Lena comes
in, smacks his hand, and says, "Shame on you, Ole! Deese are for
after da funeral!"
Cultivar Naming Trivia
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Three new Minnesota-hardy roses with humorous
Nordic names (Ole, Sven, and Lena) are no joke.
And they're likely to sell faster than lefse at a church
bazaar. –Star Tribune, Minneapolis/St. PaulThe oversized, cartoonish plant tags feature
Minnesota-speak such as "Ya, you betcha" and "Uffda," as well as caricatures of a grinning Ole, a
balding, myopic Sven and an apron-clad Lena with a
kerchief pulled down to her schnoz.
Even the plant descriptions ("Oh, jeez, ya never saw
anything so pretty") and planting directions ("One
end smells good. Ya put the udder in da dirt") get the
comic treatment.
Ole, Sven and Lena Roses…
(Dev. by the University of Minnesota and sold by Bailey’s Nursery…no joke!)
Ole's flowers are pale pink (described as
somewhere between "salmon" and "lutefisk"). Lena
has "frilly pink and white" flowers and bright green
foliage. And Sven's mauve- to violet-colored flowers
are noted for their fragrance (?).
 Go ahead and laugh. For generations, those nutty
Norwegians -- Ole, Lena and their sidekick, Sven -have been the butt of endless ethnic jokes.
 But now they're getting a little respect, albeit in the
oddest of places: the plant world.
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General Principles of
Botanical Nomenclature
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1) Botanical nomenclature is independent
of zoological nomenclature.
 A guiding principle in both botanical and
zoological nomenclature is priority. The ICBN
sets the formal starting date of plant
nomenclature at 1 May 1753, the publication
of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus (or at
later dates for specified groups and ranks).
For animals it is 1758.
Continuing…1) Botanical nomenclature is
independent of zoological nomenclature.
A plant and animal may have exactly the
same binomial or ‘scientific’ name.
 Tautonyms are not allowed in botanical
nomenclature but are in zoological
nomenclature (ie Bison bison)
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General Principles of
Botanical Nomenclature
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2) The application of names of taxonomic
groups is determined by nomenclatural
types.
 A botanical name is fixed to a taxon by a
type. This is almost invariably dried plant
material and is usually deposited and
preserved in a herbarium, though it can be an
image. Some type collections can be viewed
online at the websites of the herbaria in
question.
Types of “TYPES”
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1) Holotype
2) Isotypes
3) Syntypes
4) Paratypes
5) Lectotype
6) Neotype
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
A particular specimen
designated as the permanent
reference point for the name.
Duplicate specimens of the
holotype collected at the
same time and the same
place.
Several specimens listed as
reference points for the
name.
All of the specimens seen
and cited by the author of the
name.
A type specimen later chosen
from the paratypes.
A new specimen chosen if
none of the original
specimens or types exist.
General Principles of
Botanical Nomenclature
3) The nomenclature of taxonomic groups
is based on priority of publication.
 This means that the first correctly published
name for a taxon is the one to use. Any
name published before May 1, 1753, has no
standing as far as priority is concerned. Any
binomial correctly published after that date
must be considered for priority purposes.
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General Principles of
Botanical Nomenclature
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4) Each taxonomic group with a particular
circumscription, position, and rank can bear only
one correct name. That is the earliest name that is
in accordance with the rules, except in specified
cases.
 The concept of nomina conservanda allows the
IBC to take special action to allow a more commonly
recognized, but later published, name to replace an
earlier and correct, but obscure name. After IBC
action, the later name becomes known as the valid
or conserved name. The name with the earlier
publication date then becomes a rejected name.
Which one is given priority?
Which one is totally against the rules?
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The following names have been published for
a species of dogbane (Apocynaceae).
Tabernaemontana amsonia L. 1762
Amsonia tabernaemontana Walt. 1788
 Amsonia latifolia Michx. 1803
 Amsonia amsonia (L.) Britt. 1894
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Why do names change?
Most commonly, a species will be renamed
because it is discovered to be either more or
less closely related to another species than
was previously realized. As the first part of a
binomial name is the genus, if the genus
changes then the binomial name also needs
to change. The second part of the species
name, known as the epithet, is specific to the
species however and can therefore be
retained.

Amsonia tabernaemontana Walt.
(Basionym: Tabernaemontana amsonia L.)
Basionym (or base-name) is a taxonomic term used
in botany to refer to a previously valid binomial
name of a species that has since been renamed and
from which the new name is partially derived.
 The basionym of Amsonia tabernaemontana Walt.,
for example, is Tabernaemontana amsonia L.
Although the species was originally called
Tabernaemontana amsonia by Linnaeus, botanist
Walt. later transferred it to the genus Amsonia.

More on basionyms
The term basionym is defined by the International
Code of Botanical Nomenclaure as a "namebringing or epithet-bringing synonym.
Consequently, for an earlier name to be described
as a basionym the new name must retain some part
of the earlier name, although not necessarily in its
entirety. For example the gender may change as
with Acrocarpia paniculata, the basionym of which is
Fucus paniculatus.
 Where an entirely new name (nomen novum) is
created the term basionym is not used.

Now, going back just a little…

Lotus heermannii (Dur. & Hilg.) Greene
The species was originally named by two naturalists
by the names of E. M. Durand and T. C. Hilgard as
Hosackia heermannii.
 Several years later, E. L. Green, another botanist,
concluded that the genus Hosackia should be
merged with the genus Lotus.
 Green transferred the specific epithet heermannii
from Hosackia to Lotus.
 And, it appears that the genus Hosackia ceased to
exist.

So, based on what we know…
Shouldn’t
 Amsonia tabernaemontana Walt.
 be
 Amsonia tabernaemontana (L.) Walt.
 ????????????????????????????????
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The only speculation I have for this seeming anomaly is that
Walt. identified his plant A. tabernaemontana entirely
independently of any knowledge of the previously identified
Tabernaemontana amsonia L. which turned out to be the same
plant. I couldn’t find any more history on this.
Now what about those synonyms?
Example: Salsola iberica (Syn S. kali)
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In botanical nomenclature, the synonym of a
botanical name is a name that also applies to
this same taxon. A synonym cannot exist in
isolation: it is always "a synonym of ...". In
botany, synonyms can be:
 homotypic (or nomenclatural)
 heterotypic (or taxonomic)
Botanical Synonyms
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homotypic (or nomenclatural): having the same
type. The Linnaean name Pinus abies L. has the
same type as Picea abies (L.) H.Karst. When the
latter is taken to be the correct name (there is
almost complete consensus on that), Pinus abies
is a homotypic synonym of Picea abies. However,
if the species were regarded to belong to Pinus
(now unlikely) the relationship would be reversed
and Picea abies would become a homotypic
synonym of Pinus abies.
Botanical Synonyms
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heterotypic (or taxonomic): with a different type.
Some botanists split the dandelion into many,
quite restricted species. The name of each such
species has its own type. When the dandelion is
regarded as including all those small species, the
names of all those species are heterotypic
synonyms of Taraxacum officinale F.H.Wigg.
Botanical Synonyms

In botany it is not required that a synonym be
a valid name: a listing of synonyms often
contains names that for some reason did not
make it as a formal name (unpublished or
manuscript names), or have not yet been
formally published. Such a synonym must
have the form of a formal name: it must look
like a proper 'Latin name'.
Botanical Synonyms
Unlike a basionym, a homotypic synonym
need not share an epithet or name with the
correct name. It only needs to share the
type. For example the name Taraxacum
officinale F.H. Wigg, has the same type as
Leontodon taraxacum L. The latter is a
homotypic synonym of Taraxacum officinale
F.H.Wigg.

Taraxacum officinale F.H.Wigg.
(syn Leontodon taraxacum L.)
Illegitimate Names
Names that do not conform to the rules of
nomenclature are called illegitimate.
 It is against the rules to use a name that has already
been published for a different kind of plant. These
‘later homonyms’ must be rejected.
 And, as we already know, tautonyms (Cardinalis
cardinalis, Bison bison) are allowed in zoological
nomenclature but not in botanical nomenclature.
 Certain procedures must be followed when a name
is first published. If not followed, the name must be
rejected though it may be resubmitted correctly for
publication at a later date.
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General Principles of
Botanical Nomenclature
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5) Scientific names are Latin or treated as
Latin regardless of their derivation.

6) The names of taxa above the genus level
above have standardized suffixes that
indicate the rank of the taxon. Family: -eae;
Tribe: -oideae; Sub-family: -aceae; Order: ales; Sub-class: -idae; Class: -opsida;
Division: -ophyta; Kingdom: -phyta.
General Principles of
Botanical Nomenclature

7) The rules of nomenclature are retroactive
unless expressly limited.
 Early botanists did not have a code of
nomenclature. The rules have gradually
developed to the present time. For instance,
the requirement that a holotype be
designated dates only from January 1, 1958.
Naming a Newly Discovered Plant
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There are several steps that a taxonomist
must follow to validly publish the name of a
new plant.
1) The name must be properly constructed
and it should not be a name anyone has ever
used before.
2) The taxonomist must clearly indicate the
rank of the taxon being described.
Naming a Newly Discovered Plant(cont)
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3) A specimen must be designated as the
holotype (since 1958) and assigned to a
herbarium.
4) The taxonomist must publish a description
or diagnosis written in botanical Latin. A
diagnosis is a brief statement that indicates
the ways in which the newly described taxon
differs from other plants.
Naming a Newly Discovered Plant(cont)

5) The name and the accompanying
information must be effectively published
(i.e., printed in a publication that would be
generally available to other botanists.)
From my reading this week…
Family: Apiaceae
Above the lower plants it towers,
 The Fennel with its yellow flowers;
 And in an earlier age than ours
 Was gifted with the wondrous powers
 Lost vision to restore.

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
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow-
(Now didn’t your mother always tell you that carrots are good for
your eyes???)
And, to end…
May your stuffing be tasty
And your turkey be plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
May your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off of your thighs!

-Anonymous-