In botanical nomenclature

Botanical nomenclature

Botanical nomenclature is the formal, scientific naming of plants. It is related to, but distinct from taxonomy. Plant taxonomy is concerned with grouping and classifying plants; botanical nomenclature then provides names for the results of this process. The starting point for modern botanical...

, autonyms are automatically created names, as regulated by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (Vienna Code, 2006). Autonyms are cited without an author. Relevant provisions are in articles 6.8, 22.1-3 and 26.1-3.

Definition

The definition of an autonym is in Art. 6.8 of the ICBN:

"6.8. Autonyms are such names as can be established automatically under Art. 22.3 and 26.3, whether or not they appear in print in the publication in which they are created (see Art. 32.8, Rec. 22B.1 and 26B.1)."

"22.3. The first instance of valid publication of a name of a subdivision of a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 under a legitimate generic name automatically establishes the corresponding autonym (see also Art. 11.6 and 32.8)." The form of this autonym is described in the earlier Art. 22.1: "The name of any subdivision of a genus that includes the type of the [...] name of the genus to which it is assigned is to repeat the generic name unaltered as its epithet, not followed by an author citation [...] Such names are termed autonyms".

"26.3. The first instance of valid publication of a name of an infraspecific taxon under a legitimate species name automatically establishes the corresponding autonym (see also Art. 32.8 and 11.6)." And as above, but now for inspraspecific taxa, Art. 26.1 says: "The name of any infraspecific taxon that includes the type of the [...] name of the species to which it is assigned is to repeat the specific epithet unaltered as its final epithet, not followed by an author citation [...] Such names are termed autonyms".

Interpretation

The application of names of taxonomic groups is determined by means of nomenclatural types (Principle II of the ICBN). For all taxa, nomenclatural types are preserved specimens or illustrations.

In the case of an infraspecific taxon, if a botanist described a new taxon and publishes a new name at infraspecific level, all elements that previously belonged to the species (and are not included in the newly described taxon) now become a new infraspecific taxon. But as neither the type nor the final epithet has changed, there is no need for a change in author citation.

The same goes for a subdivision of a genus. If a botanist creates a new subdivision of a genus, for example by dividing a large genus into two or more smaller portions, then a new subdivision of the genus will share the type and have as its epithet the name of the genus and does not require a change in author citation.

As will be clear from the definition, an autonym can be one of two kinds:

• for a taxon at a rank below that of genus and above that of species (technically a "subdivision of genus", but loosely speaking an "infrageneric taxon"), in which case its epithet repeats the generic name (Art. 22), for example

Magnolia L. sect. Magnolia

Magnolia

Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol....

, automatically established when A.P. de Candolle published sect. Gwillimia DC., in: Syst. Nat. 1 (1817): 455.

• for a taxon at a rank below that of species (an infraspecific taxon), in which case the infraspecific epithet repeats the specific epithet (Art. 26), for example

Elmerrillia papuana (Schltr.) Dandy var. papuana

Elmerrillia

Elmerrillia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the Magnolia family . The genus includes five species of evergreen trees, which range across the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, and Malesia....

, automatically established when var. glaberrima Dandy, and var. adpressa Dandy were published, in Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1928(5) (1928): 185.

Other provisions concerning autonyms

The name of a subdivision of a genus that includes the type of the genus is not validly published if its epithet does not repeat the generic name unaltered, in other words: it may not be anything other than an autonym, for example

When Seringe published Magnolia L. subgen. Gwillimia Ser., in: Fl. Jard. 3 (1849): 222, the autonym Magnolia L. subgen. Magnolia was automatically established. When the latter was named Magnolia L. subgen. Eumagnolia by Seringe, same publication, p. 224, that name was not validly published as it included Magnolia virginiana L., the type of the genus. The autonym however, was validly published, even though it did not appear in print.

The same goes, mutatis mutandis, for infraspecific taxa.

An autonym is considered to have been published at exactly the same time as the earliest name(s) in that particular rank under the genus or species (the publication of the earliest name of a section in Magnolia L. established the autonym Magnolia L. sect. Magnolia), even if not explicitly mentioned at that time.

When Rehder

Alfred Rehder

Alfred Rehder was a horticulturist and taxonomist who worked at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. Rehder was a newspaper writer from Germany who was originally hired as a laborer at the Arnold Arboretum. His talents for horticultural plant taxonomy were soon recognized, however...

 & Wilson

Ernest Henry Wilson

Ernest Henry "Chinese" Wilson , better known as E. H. Wilson, was a notable English plant collector who introduced a large range of about 2000 of Asian plant species to the West; some sixty bear his name.-Career:...

 in C.S. Sargent

Charles Sprague Sargent

Charles Sprague Sargent was an American botanist. He was the first director of the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts and the standard botanical author abbreviation Sarg. is applied to plants he described.-Biography:Sargent was the second son of Henrietta and...

, Pl. Wilson. 1 (1913): 392, published Magnolia officinalis Rehder & E.H. Wilson var. biloba, they established at the same time Magnolia officinalis Rehder & E.H. Wilson var. officinalis, even though that name was nowhere mentioned in Plantae Wilsonianae.

The autonym has nomenclatural priority

Principle of Priority

thumb|270px|Boa manditraIn zoology, the scientific study of animals, the Principle of Priority is one of the guiding principles of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, defined by Article 23....

over the name (or the names, as the case may be) that established it (ICBN (Vienna Code) Art. 11.6). This rule is of particular importance in combination with Art. 11.2: In no case does a name have priority outside the rank in which it is published. The following example will demonstrate this:

When Heracleum sibiricum L., with subsp. lecokii (Godr. & Gren.) Nyman and subsp. sibiricum (autonym) is placed under Heracleum sphondylium L. as a subspecies, then the correct name of the subspecies is Heracleum sphondylium L. subsp. sibiricum (L.) Simonk. The name Heracleum sibiricum has no priority outside the rank of species. For the correct name as a subspecies under H. sphondylium it is essential which of the names published at the rank of subspecies has priority. This is regulated by Art. 11.6.

The type of an autonym is the same as that for the corresponding genus or species. As an autonym is automatically created (without an author being involved), no author citation follows the name.

External links

• online version of the ICBN (Vienna Code, 2006) (retrieved 20 Mar 2010)