Taxacom: Latin

[Paul van Rijckevorsel]

As far as I know there is nothing in the 'botanical' /Code/
that would forbid the use of an English adjective as an
epithet.

But it would have to be treated as a Latin noun, a Latin
genitive, or a Latin adjective; pragmatically: a Latin noun.
It would be quite awkward to have a /Begonia redleaf/,
and I imagine not many people could bear it to go into
print telling the world that they regard "redleaf" to be a
Latin noun.

There is some parallel here with women's first names
as epithets (as nouns in apposition), which happened
in the 19th century for horticultural plants. These
epithets have almost all been moved to the ICNCP
(as cultivar epithets), which also uses epithets like
'Red leaf'. Today hardly anybody would publish an
unmodified woman's first name as an epithet in a
'botanical' name, but it is not forbidden.

Of course, the ICNafp is retroactive, and if it becomes
fashionable to publish names like /Begonia redleaf/,
it is not unthinkable that somebody will propose to
rule them out of existence (retroactively).

Paul

On 04-Jul-23 09:28, Lücking, Robert via Taxacom wrote:
> The botanical code is quite specific about orthography and the use of Latin and Greek (especially in epithets) and botanists or mycologists would probably not even have this discussion. Some discussions I can remember were about whether a given epithet was originally intended as adjectival or as noun in apposition, but these are minor in scope. In mycology, we have the added advantage that all fungal names have been and are being registered, obligately so since 2012 for valid publication, and there are knowledgeable colleagues continuously curating these databases, with the help by the community, and assisting in correcting erroneous names and epithets upon registration of new names. This has been and continues to be extremely helpful.
>
> Robert Lücking
>
>
>
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: Taxacom<taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu>  Im Auftrag von Stephen Thorpe via Taxacom
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 4. Juli 2023 09:14
> An: taxacom<taxacom at lists.ku.edu>; Valery MALECOT<valery.malecot at agrocampus-ouest.fr>
> Betreff: Re: Taxacom: Latin
>
>   So, Valéry, does the botanical code allow English adjectives, treated as if they were Latin? Could you name a plant Aus redleaf?
>      On Tuesday, 4 July 2023 at 07:08:37 pm NZST, Valery MALECOT via Taxacom<taxacom at lists.ku.edu>  wrote:
>   


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