0xd7 in species name ?

[John McNeill]

Dear Bob

In response to your questions (see below):

a) As Dick Jensen and Eric Zurcher have noted the multiplication sign indicates "hybridity" (ICBN Art. H.1.1 -- see Eric's posting for the URL).  This is not, from a nomenclatural standpoint, strictly a part of the name itself -- hence there is no conflict with Art. 60 on orthography.  For example, Stachys ambigua and Stachys x ambigua are the same name (Art. 50 Ex. 1; Art. H.3.3); the difference merely represents the opinion of the user on the hybrid origin (or otherwise) of the species -- whether a "species" or a "nothospecies".  Hence it is appropriate to have a search capability that will operate independently of the multiplication sign.  (Eric has noted the differing recommended position of an "x" substituting for a multiplication sign (as used above); the multiplication sign is adjacent to the epithet -- Rec. H.3A).

But, of course, for the user the multiplication sign IS part of the  name, and, troublesome though non-ASCII characters may be, databases should indeed have full capability to deal with it.  The male and female signs, on the other hand, appear solely in a recommendation for hybrid formulae (e.g. Species A x Species B), are rarely met with, and would never seem to be part of a name.

b) Eric has answered this fully (Art. 60 -- though the prohibitions are scattered through the Article which deals with orthography in general)

c) The ICBN is a code of rules to be followed in naming plants (& fungi) and the only lists of names that it can be thought to endorse are those in its own Appendices (lists of conserved and rejected names).  I am certain that ITIS follows the provisions of the ICBN to the fullest extent possible, but IPNI is another matter.  As I understand the stuation, it started as an electronic merger of Index Kewensis, the Gray Card Index and the Australian Plant Name Index, each with different standards, e.g. of author abbreviations, and although I believe work is in progress to fully integrate these, there is still very substantial duplication -- the same name appearing more than once because the entries are not quite identical.

More importantly, IPNI combines lists of published names, the most complete of which (IK) started in the last century, before there even was an ICBN.  Consequently there are (or were) many entries that do NOT represent names that are validly published ("available" in zoological parlance -- "Zoospeak") under the ICBN.

And, of course, unlike say USDA's Plants, IPNI is strictly a list of names, authors and places of publication; it does not make any taxonomic judgements on the application of these names. [The IK did in its earlier volumes -- based on mid-19th Century taxonomic opinion!].

Finally Curtis Clark mentions the fact that there are common characters that were not in Latin.  That is covered in Art. 60.4.

Hope this helps.

John


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John McNeill, Director Emeritus, Royal Ontario Museum;
    Honorary Associate ,Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
Mailing address:  Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, EH3 5LR, Scotland, U.K.
Telephone:    +44-131-248-2912;  fax: +44-131-248-2901
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e-mail: jmcneill at rbge.org.uk (johnm at rom.on.ca is also read)
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>>> "Robert A. (Bob) Morris" <ram at CS.UMB.EDU> 11/12/02 18:44 PM >>>
USDAPlants uses the "times sign" 0xd7 for many Quercus (and other)
species, e.g. Quercus X acutidens (which can be found with a search
Quercus acutidens ). Here I render "X" as does ITIS.  IPNI omits it altogether

Can someone tell me:

a. What s the meaning of the "X"

b. Aren't taxon names required by ICBN to be entirely in Latin
characters? If yes or no, can someone provide references to ICBN
article and perhaps to Winston's book (Judith Winston, "Describing
Species"). In Winston, I see such a claim for ICZN but not that I can
find for ICBN.

c. Does ICBN support IPNI, ITIS, or both as accepted names.

Thanks
Bob, Not a Biologist, Morris