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C. JEFFREY
Theoretical and practical problems in the classification and nomenclature
of cultivated plants, with examples from Cucurbitaceae and
Compositae
C. JEFFREY 1
Abstract
Some provisions of the Botanical and Cultivated Codes concerning the taxonomy
and nomenclature of groups of cultivated plants are discussed with respect to problems
of taxonomic structure, ranking, homonymy, typification, publication, priority and
user-friendliness. It is concluded that the application of both Codes variously, as a
given situation demands, will best provide the flexibility advantageous in the naming
of groups of cultivated plants.
Introduction
The names of plants in cultivation are regulated primarily by two codes of nomenclature:
the ICBN (GREUTER et al. 2000) and the ICNCP (TREHANE et al. 1995). The relationship
between the two is not complementary. Art. 28 of the Botanical Code while
recognising the regulation by the Cultivated Code of particular, additional designations
of groups of cultivated plants nevertheless states, that there are no obstacles to
the use of names regulated by the Botanical Code for such groups. On the other
hand, the Cultivated Code recommends the use of names regulated by the Cultivated
Code for taxonomic groups of cultivated plants that meet the criteria of being recognised
as cultivars or cultivar-groups. There is thus an overlap or even an antagonism,
the implications of which, be they advantageous or disadvantageous, require discussion.
Taxonomic structure
The system of names governed by the Botanical Code was developed during the
18 th , 19 th and 20 th centuries to serve a taxonomy, the aim of which has been, and is,
to discover the natural system, or, in contemporary terms, to construct hypotheses of
1 Komarov Botanical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences
2 Prof. Popov St.
197376 St. Petersburg, Russia
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