Gender of supra-familial plant name suffixes

[Dipteryx]

----- Original Message -----
From: Mark A. Garland <magarland at NETTALLY.COM>
To: <TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG>
Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2001 8:35 AM
Subject: Re: Gender of supra-familial plant name suffixes.

> > Laurence G. Adams, Hon. Research Fellow
> > c/- Australian National Herbarium
> > Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research
> > GPO Box 1600
> > Canberra, ACT 2601
> > Telephone: (02) 62465123
> > Fax: (02) 62465249
> > E-mail: l.adams at pi.csiro.au

> (a) In the algae: -phyceae (class) and -phycidae (subclass);"
>
> These are feminine plurals, from Greek phykos, seaweed, plus the
> suffixes -eus, -ea, -eum (specifically, the plural form of -ea) or
> -ides.

Indeed the ICBN does not cover gender of anything but genera, since this is the only case where gender affects part of a name: specific and
infraspecific epithets, when adjectives, take their endings from the gender of the genus.

The ICBN (2000) does state that 'phykos' in botanical usage is treated as  masculine, Art 62.2 (c)

Best, Paul van Rijckevorsel