Continuing Support for Linnaean Plant Name Typification Project

物种名称的科学“类型”是生物学家在描述和命名新物种时使用的实际植物或动物标本，通常保存在自然历史博物馆中。不幸的是，18世纪和19世纪的自然历史学家很少将单个标本指定为模式，因此可能会对科学物种名称的正确应用产生混淆。林奈植物名称类型化项目旨在对伟大的瑞典博物学家卡尔·林尼厄斯在18世纪发表的大约9800个物种名称中的每一个物种名称的类型进行彻底和学术的评估。这些名称中的许多与经济或商业上重要的植物有关，包括许多农作物、香料、药材和园艺产品。因此，出于科学和实际的原因，使用正确和稳定的名称是至关重要的。密苏里州植物园的波特·劳里博士和弗雷德·巴里博士与英国自然历史博物馆的查尔斯·贾维斯博士合作，继续对欧洲和其他地方的草本植物中与林奈名字的应用有关的模式标本进行仔细的研究。根据国际植物学大会制定的公约，这些名称优先作为第一个正确的植物学名，并在这些组织的定期会议上每五到六年批准一次。结合这项工作，正在开发一个名称和标本及相关信息的计算机化数据库，并将通过密苏里州植物园向所有植物研究人员提供。

The scientific "types" of species names are the actual plant or animal specimens, housed typically in natural history museums, that were used by biologists when describing and naming a new species. Unfortunately, natural historians of the 18th and 19th centuries rarely designated a single specimen as type, and consequently there can be confusion over the correct application of a scientific species name. The Linnean Plant Name Typification project is designed to provide a thorough and scholarly assessment of the types for each of the approximately 9800 species names published by the great Swedish naturalist Carl Linneaus in the 18th century. Many of these names pertain to economically or commercially important plants including numerous crops, spices, medicinals, and horticultural items. Hence, the use of correct and stable names is paramount both for scientific and practical reasons. Drs. Porter Lowry and Fred Barrie of the Missouri Botanical Garden, working with Dr. Charles Jarvis of the British Natural History Museum, are continuing their careful studies of type specimens housed in herbaria in Europe and elsewhere, pertinent to the application of Linnaeus's names. These names have priority as the first correct scientific names of plants, under conventions established at international botanical congresses, and ratified every five to six years at regular meetings of these organizations. A computerized database of names and specimens and associated information is being developed in conjunction with this work, and will be available through the Missouri Botanical Garden to all researchers on plants.