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PROPOSED CHANGES IN THE INTERNATIONAL CODE GOVERNING THE NOMENCLATURE OF LICHENS
Author(s) -
Culberson William L.
Publication year - 1961
Publication title -
taxon
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1996-8175
pISSN - 0040-0262
DOI - 10.2307/1216004
Subject(s) - citation , nomenclature , code (set theory) , library science , biology , computer science , genealogy , history , zoology , programming language , taxonomy (biology) , set (abstract data type)
Since 1950 the International Code has stipulated that "for nomenclatural purposes names given to lichens shall be considered as applying to their fungal components" (Art. 13, Note 4). Although the intent in incorporating this rule into the Code is sound, the rule as it stands has profound implications that exceed nomenclature and enter taxonomy. A really strict adherence to this rule is not even possible for nonexperimental lichen taxonomists (i.e., all lichen taxonomists) and its acceptance is tantamount to accepting suppositions of which at least some are scientifically questionable or plainly wrong. Still many botanists doubtless find that "... the procedure though arbitrary, is perfectly harmless" (Nannenga 1939). It is discouraging to find how widespread this taxonomically irresponsible attitude is. As the nomenclatural rule for the lichens is now stated, certain valuable taxonomic criteria may actually be outlawed because they may (we do not know) concern both components. The lichenologist should be further disturbed by this rule because he knows that he cannot always differentiate with absolute certainty between some fungal and algal manifestations in the lichens that he studies. The purpose of the present paper is to propose a simple solution to this whole problem. Lichenologists agree, I think, that a classification expressing the relationships of all fungi including those in lichens would be the desirable taxonomy. The old polyphyletic "Lichenes" must go and the fungi of the lichens must be intercalated into the mycological arrangement. This noble aim may someday be fulfilled through the hard work of lichenologists and mycologists, but it will never be achieved by tinkering with the rules of nomenclature. Yet it was to advance this taxonomy that the Code was amended to the version quoted above.