X. Specific names begin with a small letter except those wich are taken from names of
persons (substantives or adjectives) or those which are taken from generic names (substantives or adjectives).
Examples: Ficus indica, Circaea lutetiana, Brassica Napus, Lythrum Hyssopifolia, Aster novi-
helgii. Malva Tournefortiana, Phyteuma Halleri.
XI. When a specific name is taken from the name of a man, it is formed in the following
way:
d) When the name ends in a vowel, the letter i is added (thus Glazioui from Glaziou;
Bureaui from Bureau), except when the name ends in a, when e is added (thus Balansae from Balansa).
b) When the name ends in a consonant, the letters H are added (thus Magnusii from
Magnus; Ramondii from Ramond), except when the word ends in er when i is added (ex. Kerneri,
from Kemer).
c) Syllables which are not modified by these endings retain their original spelling, even in
the case of the consonants k and w or groupings of vowels which ai’e not used in classic latin. Letters
foreign to the latin of botanists should be transcribed, and diacritic signs suppressed. The german
fi, b, Ü, become ae, oe, ue, the french é, é and é become, in general, e.
d ) When specific names taken from the name of a person have an adjectival form a similar
plan is adopted {Geranium Robertianum, derbena Hasslerana, etc.).
X n . The same applies to the names of women. These are written in the feminine when
they have a substantival form.
Example: Cypripedium Hookerae, Rosa Beatricis, Scabiosa Olgae, Omphalodes Luciliae.
X m . In the forraationSof specific names composed of two or several roots and taken from
latin or greek, the vowel placed between the two roots becomes a connecting vowel, in latin i, in greek o ;
thus we write menthifolia, salviifolia, not menthaefolia, salviaefolia. When the second root begins
with a vowel and euphony demands, the connecting vowel is eliminated (e. g. calliantha, lepidanthd).
The connecting ae is legitimate only when etymology demands (e. g. caricaeformis from Carica, may
be retained along with cariciformis from Carex).
XIV. In forming specific names, botanists will do well to note the following recommendations:
a) Avoid very long names and those which are difficult to pronounce.
Í) Avoid names which express a character common to all or nearly all the species of a genus.
c) Avoid names taken from little known or very restricted localities, unless the species
be very local.
d ) Avoid, in the same genus, names which are very much alike, especially those which
differ only in their last letters.
e) Adopt unpublished names found in travellers’ notes and in herbaria, attributing them to
the authors concerned, only when those concerned have approved the publication.
/ ) Avoid names which have been used before in the genus, or in any closely allied genus,
and which have lapsed into synonymy (homonyms).
g ) Do not name a species after a person who has neither discovered, nor described, nor
figured, nor in any way studied it.
h) Avoid specific names formed of two words.
0 Avoid names which have the same meaning as the generic name.
Art. 27. Two species of the same genus cannot bear the same specific name,
but the same specific name may be given in several genera.
Example: Arabis spathulata DC. and Lepidium spathulatum Phil, are valid as two names
of Crucifers; but Arabis spathulata Nutt, in Torr. and Gray cannot be maintained, on account of the
existence of Arabis spathulata DC., a name previously given to another valid species of Arabis.
A r t 28. Names of subspecies and varieties are formed like specific names
and follow them in order, beginning with those of the highest rank. The same holds
for subvarieties, forms, and slight or transient modifications of wild plants which
receive a name or numbers or letters to facilitate their arrangement. Use of a
binary nomenclature for subdivisions of species is not admissible.
4
Examples: Andropogon ternatus subsp. macrothrix (not Andropogon macrothrix ox Andropogon
ternatus subsp. A. macrothrix); Herniaria hirsuta var. diandra (not Herniaria diandra or Herniaria
hirsuta var. H. diandra); forma nanus, forma maculatum.
R e com men d a tio n .
XV. Recommendations made for specific names apply equally to names of subdivisions of
species. These agree with the generic name when they have an adjectival form {Thymus Serpyllum
var. angustifolius, Ranunculus acris subsp. Friesianus).
XVtiis- Special forms are named preferably after the host species; if desired double
names may be used. Examples: Puccinia Hieracii f. sp. villosi, Pucciniastrum Epilobii f. sp. Abieti-
Chamaenerii.
Art. 29. Two subspecies of the same species cannot have the same name.
A given name can only be used once for a variety of a given species, even when
dealing with varieties which are classed under different subspecies. The same holds
for subvarieties and forms.
On the other hand the same name may be employed for subdivisions of
different species, and the subdivisions of any one species may bear the same name
as other species.
Examples. — The following are admissible: Rosa fu n d z illii var. leioclada and Rosa glutinosa
var. leioclada; Viola tricolor var. hirta, in spite of the existence already of a different species named
Viola hirta. The following are incorrect: Erysimum hieraciifolium subsp. strictum var. longisiliquum
and E. hieraciifolium subsp. pannonicum var. longisiliquum — a form of nomenclature which allows
two varieties bearing the same name in the same species.
R e com m en d a tio n .
X V I. Botanists are recommended to use as little as possible the privilege gi’anted in the
second part of article 29, in order to avoid confusion and mistakes and also to reduce to a minimum
the necessary changes of name when the subdivisions of species are raised to specific rank or
vice versa.
Art. 30. Forms and half-breeds among cuHivated plants should receive fancy
names, in common language, as different as possible from the latin names of the
species or varieties. When they can be traced back to a species, a subspecies or a
botanical variety this is indicated by a succession of names.
Example : Pelargonium zonale M^s. Pollock.
§ 5. Names o f hybrids and half-breeds (mules).
Art. 31. Hybrids between species of the same genus, or presumably so, are
designated by a formula and, whenever it seems useful or necessary, by a name.
The formula consists of the names or specific epithets of the two parents in
alphabetical order and connected by the sign x . When the hybrid is of known
experimental origin the formula may be made more precise by the addition of the
signs Ç, cf.
The name, which is subject to the same rules as names of species, is distinguished
from the latter by absence of an ordinal number and by the sign x before
the name.