Taxonomy Prof.(Dr.) Punam Jeswal Head M.Sc semester II Botany Department
Rules of Botanical Nomenclature
Definition - Nomenclature is the art of naming of objects, which deals with the determination of a correct name to a known plant or to a known taxon. The names indeed correspond to the sentence, as both constitute meaningful collection of words. A name indicates a noun that helps in the quick identification, easy communication and economy of memory about the object to which it is concerned.
Types of Names -
The names according to their range of audience, language, territorial coverage and governance are of two types :-
1. Common or vernacular names. 2. International or scientific names.
Common or Vernacular Names - These names are of the locals, by the locals, for the locals, in the local dialect. That is when a local plant is named by native people for the identification and communication to the other people of the same territory in their won local dialect, it is referred to as local or common or vernacular name.
The fundamental demerits of this name are that they have limited audience, small territorial coverage and not governed under any set of principles or rules and even the same plant may have more than one name in the same locality.
Another demerit of concern regarding these names is presence of synonyms in the languages therefore; the same plant may have a variety of names at different places in different languages. As for instance, mango(Mangifera indica) posses more than fifty names in Sanskrit only and lotus is known by more than two dozen names in Sanskrit and Hindi languages.
International or Scientific Names -
To omit all the demerits and confusions of the common or vernacular names, standard scientific names are applied to every species, which are methodical and internationally communicable. These names have passed through three different phases each characterized by a specific system of nomenclature such as :- 1. Polynomial 2. Trinomial 3. Binomial
Polynomial System -
About the middle of 18th century, the names of plants used to have comprised of several words or epithets. This system was considered as Polynomial System of nomenclature. As for instance, George Bentham used the name Caryophyllum foliis gramineus umbellatis corymbis to represent Caryophyllum, with grass like leaves and flowers in umbellate corymbs. Similarly, Linnaeus (1738) himself, named a species Plantago foliis ovatis glabris. Such long descriptive names were very cumbersome and contrary to the fundamental philosophy of nomenclature, thus became inconvenient with increase in number of plants.
Trinomial System -
In this system, the names appeared consisting of three epithets each representing the genus, species and sub-species respectively. In animal nomenclature, this system is widely employed and officially recognized. However, in plant nomenclature the system has limited use only for assigning infraspecific categories in case of closely allied species. Moreover, in general it is not so widely practiced as the binomial system.
Binomial System -
Caspar Bauhin (1560-1624) and Rivinus (1623) used a system of nomenclature in which the names of a plant consists of two words, a generic name and a specific epithet, which together formed a binomial combination or binary epithet in their work. It is interesting to note that Carolus Linnaeus was the first to use the binomial system of nomenclature and even changed his own name from Karl Von Linne to Carolus Linnaeus based on binomial nomenclature system. He proposed some rules related to the binomial nomenclature in "Fundamenta Botanica" (1736). "Critica Botanica" (1737), "Philoshophia Botanica" (1751), "Species Plantarum" (1753) and "Systema Naturae" (1758), which are still in use. The binomial system of nomenclature employed for the first as a whole in ”Species Plantarum" (1753). According to the system of binomial nomenclature the name of a plant consists of two Latin or Latinized words, the first generic epithet represents the genus and the second specific epithet representing the species.
1. Generic Epithet : The Genus
a) It is noun or adjective used as noun, which constitutes the first epithet of the binary combination.
b) It is written with an initial capital letter of roman script, underlined in hand writing and italicized in printing.
c) It is invariably in Latin or Latinized if derived from any other language.
2. Specific Epithet : The Species -
a) It is an adjective or noun used as adjective which constitutes the second epithet of the binary combination.
b) It is written with an initial small letter of roman script, underlined separately in hand writing and italicized in printing.
c) It is invariably in Latin or Latinized if derived from any other language.