Alternate spelling of Zigadenus

[Thomas Lammers]

At 06:25 PM 3/27/02 -0600, you wrote:

>I've been sending some Zigadenus to a friend working on sawfly /Zigadenus
>interactions and she wrote to say that in many old papers the genus is
>spelled Zygadenus. Can any of the botanists out there give me some
>background on the varient spelling?

As originally published [Michx., Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 213 + t. 22 (1803)], it
was spelled "Zigadenus."  I see no grounds for altering it under ICBN Art.
60.1, and 60.3 seems especially to counsel against it.  I suppose at some
point, someone felt the apparent Greek root word "zygon" was misspelled and
corrected it.  (Michaux gave no derivation of the name.)  The ICBN does not
allow such changes.


Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)
Department of Biology and Microbiology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8640 USA

e-mail:       lammers at uwosh.edu
phone:      920-424-1002
fax:           920-424-1101

Plant systematics; classification, nomenclature, evolution, and biogeography
of the Campanulaceae s. lat.

Webpages:
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/Lammers.htm
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Resort/7156/lammers.html
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/herbarium/herbarium.html
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