Plant Naming

Carl Linnaeus
by Henrik Hollander

Except for those names which are affected by legislation surrounding the registration of food crops, Plant Breeders’ Rights and Trademarks, there are no legal imperatives concerning the naming of plants. Instead people dealing with plant names consent to comply with rules detailed in two codes of nomenclature, the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants (ICN) and the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP).

The universal effort made to adhere to the instructions prescribed in these codes is in mutual acknowledgement that it will make the business of communicating about plants generally easier.

naming new plants

Click below to learn about the process involved in naming a cultivated plant.

Plant Naming (PDF)

name registration

National and international regulations require the naming of plants for e.g. phytosanitary reasons, market protection and plant conservation.

Plant Name Registration (PDF)

legislation

Legal considerations play an increasing role in the naming of cultivated plants.

Plant Name Legislation (PDF)

nomenclatural codes

People dealing with plant names consent to comply with rules detailed in two codes of nomenclature, the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) and the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP).

Read more about these codes here.

plant names in print

Knowing how best to deal with plant names in writing can be a challenge. However, there are only a few simple rules which need to be followed and you can read more about these here.

SYMPOSIA

During the last 30 years there have been six International Symposia on the Taxonomy of Cultivated Plants.

Read more here for details and proceedings from these symposia.

Plant Naming

naming new plants

name registration

legislation

nomenclatural codes

plant names in print

SYMPOSIA

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