Manual: The Naming of Plants – explanations and examples, by Lena Struwe

Looking for a non-technical beginners and intermediate users manual in plant nomenclature that explains scientific names, common names, cultivated and trade names, and what changes in plant classifications that could lead to name changes?  Here it is, free to download and use:

This manual by Lena Struwe (Botanical Accuracy LLC) was sponsored by the Personal Care Products Council (PCPC) for the purpose to promote botanical accuracy and botanical education worldwide and is free to download and use by anybody interested in botany, horticulture, agriculture, herbal medicine, commercial plant products, and edible plants.  (See second page of the manual for detailed copyright and usage information.)

It covers wild, agricultural, and horticultural plant names and their rules and practices in a global perspective.  To illustrate rules and practices many real examples and explanatory figures are also included (some of these can be downloaded separately, see below).  In the manual it is explained how plants get their scientific names, the basics of how the International Code of Nomenclature (ICN) works, how common and local names are used (and misused) across the world, the naming of cultivated plants with cultivar and group names, and also a short section on commercial names from patents, trade names, and other protected names used in commerce.

The manual ends with instructions and recommendations on how to to use botanical names in commercial products, how to format names, and an index to common abbreviations and symbols in plant nomenclature.

DOWNLOAD the manual (pdf, 53 pp):  Sept 3, 2018 version  The Naming of Plants, Sep 3, 2018 version (1730 downloads)
(make sure you have the latest version, minor typos and errors will be updated continuously, and each version has a date in the copyright statement)
(Also, see below for the option to download presentation slides of the figures)

(Aug 22 version: Manual: The Naming of Plants by Lena Struwe (pdf, 53 pp) (1547 downloads) )

Chapter headings of the manual:

THE GOALS OF THIS MANUAL
WHY DO WE NAME THINGS?
NAMING IS NOT THE SAME AS IDENTIFICATION
BOTANICAL ACCURACY
RULES OR RECOMMENDATIONS? THE CODES
WHAT IS A TAXON?
SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION AND NAMES OF GROUPS
SCIENTIFIC NAMES OF PLANT SPECIES
NAMES OF HYBRIDS
WHY DO SCIENTIFIC NAMES AND GROUPINGS CHANGE?
COMMON NAMES
CULTIVATED PLANT NAMES
COMMERCIAL NAMES (TRADE AND PATENT NAMES)
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR USE OF BOTANICAL NAMES IN COMMERCE
HOW TO FORMAT AND WRITE PLANT NAMES
ABBREVIATIONS AND CATEGORIES
SELECTED REFERENCES AND SOURCES

You can also download presentation slides of the figures in the manual to use for classes or for other educational purposes:

DOWNLOAD the figures here (ppt, 27 slides): Figures from The Naming of Plants manual by Lena Struwe (ppt) (790 downloads)

Examples of figures included in the download:

Naming of plant hybrids (scientific names), examples from Helianthus and Allamanda.
(c) Lena Struwe

How a paraphyletic group can get reclassified so it becomes a monophyletic group. (c) Lena Struwe

Schematic of how cultivated and scientific names are used for species, cultivars, and group names. (c) Lena Struwe